


The Water Truce

by Pyralis_Anacreon



Series: The Tale of Naruto Uzumaki [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Reincarnation, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-14 22:59:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 32,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7194326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyralis_Anacreon/pseuds/Pyralis_Anacreon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[I have returned with peace for our time] </p><p>Freshly inaugurated Fifth Hokage Naruto Uzumaki has several issues to deal with, including picking a new council, investigating the actions of his village's greatest traitor, reopening the walls of Konoha to the Chuunin Exams, negotiations with the other nations, and helping Sasuke track down his murderous brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Penance Twofold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new Hokage has been inaugerated, and he's not taking a day off before he starts shaking things up.

 

**4th of February, 66 f.K.**

The first weak light of dawn touched the leaves of the Forest of Death, declaring the end of the Fifth Hokage's coronation. Not half a minute later, Naruto Uzumaki came barreling out of the gloomy trees, face split by a manic grin, panting just enough to gasp, "Ha! You didn't catch me!"

Ninja filtered out of the trees, clothing torn and disarrayed, each of them with an expression of tired satisfaction. More quickly came Sakura and Sasuke, who jumped out of the trees and landed on top of Naruto, pinning him down at last.

"That makes four times by my count," Sakura said to Sasuke over Naruto's groan of protest, his chest trapped under her knee.

"That trap didn't count because I got out of it before you could get to me!" Naruto insisted.

"You had to send forty shadow clones to hold us off while you cut your way out," Sasuke replied, rolling his eyes. "It's at least half a point."

"Closer than the rest of us got, anyway," Chouza muttered, passing by with no less than six leaves stuck to his person. "I must have popped another forty shadow clones myself."

"You fought the real me twice, if that helps." Naruto offered, taking Sakura's hand to stand back up.

Chouza sighed heavily. "I really did not even notice."

When he had gone by, Naruto went over too see how Tsunade fared in her makeshift infirmary. Four shinobi sat around her, in various amounts of injured ranging from twisted ankle to stab wound. Tsunade was kneeling in front of the latter, hand glowing as she glared at the wound.

"Sorry 'bout that, Hyuuga," Naruto said, sticking both hands in his pockets. Jiraiya swooped by silently, trying to avoid being noticed by Tsunade, and dropped the Hokage Hat on Naruto's head. It landed tilted over one eye, making him look a little delinquent; Naruto didn't fix it.

Neji Hyuuga eyed him and did not respond. He'd gotten in the way of someone else's kunai, and had only popped a shadow clone for his troubles.

"They all good here, old lady?" Naruto asked.

"No imminent death just yet," Tsunade snapped, pulling her hand away to observe the area. It was healed over with fresh new skin, not even a scar. "You're free to go, Hyuuga."

That settled, Naruto set an easy walking pace back up to the Hokage Tower. The final part of the ritual; the Hokage proved that even after an entire night of being hunted, he could still take care of his village's administrative needs.

The office was the same quiet place he had left it. The only personal touch he'd had time to add was the framed picture of Naruto and the Third, but he had plans for the office. Orange walls - burnt orange, because Sakura insisted - and black designs on them. Some cool paintings of battles maybe. The Ichiraku menu framed on the wall by his desk, so he could easily consider lunch options. Little carved ramen bowls on the baseboards, that would be so great!

Naruto narrated these decisions to his team as they went, following the same path they had walked a night ago. Sasuke sighed and didn't respond, which meant that he thought Naruto was an idiot but was supportive anyway. Sakura did in fact insist on at least a burnt orange, since Naruto's favored eye-searing shade would probably actively keep ninja from setting foot in his office.

Seated behind the desk, Naruto slapped both hands down and said, "Where the fuck is Jiraiya?"

"Behind you!" Jiraiya shouted, leaping out of thin air (or a genjutsu) and crashing down on Naruto's head elbow-first. Naruto popped into smoke, and the startled Jiraiya just barely managed to catch himself before he fell flat on his face.

Across the desk, what was presumably the real Naruto stepped out from behind Sasuke. "Well, now that I've got him here," he began, "Jiraiya! I want to know everything you know about the Uchiha massacre."

Jiraiya paused in brushing himself off, trying to play it down. "You already know everything I do, kid. Danzo had something to do with it, but we don't know if he had advance warning or just found out a lot sooner than the rest of us... or something else."

"Then I want you and Sakura looking into it. Actually, no, Sakura can investigate within the village." He nodded at Sakura and she left, running over her options in her mind. Naruto turned back to Jiraiya. "You're going out and hunting down Itachi." Sasuke tensed minutely next to Naruto at the mention of his brother's name.

"That so?" Jiraiya muttered, eying Naruto with an unimpressed expression. "I s'pose I can work that in around my writing and collecting my own information."

Naruto leaned over the desk with a hard look, staring his old teacher in the eyes. In an even tone he said, "You made me your Hokage, so you do what I say. And _I say you find Itachi_."

The moment balanced on a knife edge. Jiraiya's face broke into a small but genuine grin. "Well, you do have stones, boy! I guess if I find Itachi, I find Akatsuki at the same time. Sure, I'll take that mission. But! I expect mission pay. And an expenditures budget!"

Naruto squinted at him. "You can have extended B-rank pay. Money for food and board; no prostitutes."

"Half my network are prostitutes, kid! I gotta pay 'em somehow, and I don't have that kind of dough just lining my pockets."

"You were paying them somehow before, so you can continue to do that." Naruto said dismissively.

Jiraiya groaned but didn't say anything more about his pay. Instead, he asked, "Where's your sensei? Didn't see him at the coronation."

Smiling a little, Naruto gestured out the window in the direction of the Memorial Stone. "Still catching up with some old friends, I guess."

"Oh yeah, that's not creepy or weird at all. What else are you gonna do your first day in office?"

Naruto looked over at Sasuke, who stared blankly back. He replied, "Well, first I'm gonna find a suitably gory mission for Mister Emotional over here, since he's bored. Then I figure I'll send out some message birds to the other villages to tell them that we're hosting the next Chuunin Exams." 

"You wanna do _what_?"

* * *

Naruto stretched his arms above his head, groaning loud and long. "I'm done!" he exclaimed, letting his arms fall heavily to the desk. He looked at the three clones working diligently on each of the other sides of his desk. "You guys can go."

"Oh thank god!" one Naruto shouted, tipping himself backwards. He dispelled before he hit the ground. The other two had similar reactions, and Naruto found himself flooded with essentially three days worth of catching up with the goings-on in the village.

"I'll fix that supply issue in the morning," he muttered, rubbing his head. There was a mistake on one of the receipts that his clone hadn't been able to catch with incomplete information.

Sakura stuck her head in the door and asked, "You ready to go home?"

Naruto grinned at seeing her. It had been a long day of meeting ninja teams with assignments, and seeing every face but the ones he really wanted to.

"Where's Sasuke? He's gotta be done watching the training grounds by now."

Sakura leaned back to look out the door and into the hall. "Oh, here he is."

From outside the office, Sasuke said loudly, "Let's go, idiot,"

"Someone's cranky," Naruto called, standing up and putting his long coat on. "Have some patience Sasuke!"

They detoured on the way to the Hokage residence, which was all the way across Konoha from the Tower, to stop by the Memorial Stone. Kakashi was still there, laying on his back in the grass and, to all appearances, taking a nap.

"Hey, lazy sensei," Naruto said, "We're going home. You coming with us?"

Kakashi cracked his eye halfway open to look at them. Naruto had one arm around Sasuke's shoulders - this seemed barely tolerated - and the other was tucked through Sakura's arm at his side. She tilted her head onto Naruto's shoulder and gave Kakashi a pleading look.

"Oh, god, we're one of those teams aren't we." Kakashi deadpanned. At Naruto's questioning look, he elaborated, "The ones that other ninja get all whispery about because they live in each others' pockets and share clothes and are just... weirdly incestuous."

Naruto looked over at Sakura consideringly. "You do wear my clothes sometimes."

She scoffed and shoved him into Sasuke, who bore it with equanimity. "Only to sleep in! Your stuff's nice and loose."

So Naruto turned back to Kakashi and repeated, "You comin' or not?"

"Maa," Kakashi wavered, then rocked into a standing position. "Yeah. You know, I've read an Icha Icha like this," As they set off again, Kakashi reached out and ruffled Naruto and Sasuke's hair, following behind his little team. "'Course it was with an inverse of the current genders."

"I can balance out the numbers if you want, sensei."

"No you will not, Naruto Uzumaki!"

* * *

**5th of February, 66 f.K.**

**So they made you their Hokage.**

Naruto whirled in place, trying to figure out why his dream of the peaceful forests of Konoha had suddenly taken a plunge into a sewer. There, at the other end of the sewer, was a cage.

Red smoke boiled behind the bars, but did not pass through them. Naruto stopped in front of them, staring up and up, to where they disappeared without end.

**Do you think they love you now?**

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, grinning easily. "Maybe not yet, fox, but they will."

The smoke roiled even faster, and then cleared away to reveal the Nine Tailed Demon Fox in all its massive glory. It sat neatly before the bars of its cage.

**You are cunning enough to be a leader,** it said. **But you could stand to learn some more. You use clones often, but they are weak.**

"Oh yeah? You got something better?"

The fox's grin stretched the black corners of its mouth all the way back to its ears. **I used to use... a similar technique. I have been around a long time, boy. I have forgotten more than any human will ever be able to learn. I know more than you will ever master.**

Naruto grinned. "We'll just see about that!"

* * *

Naruto woke up with a broad grin already on his face, creeping out Kakashi who was crouched one bedroll over and blowing on a warm mug.

"Have a good dream?" Kakashi guessed, his one visible eyebrow raised.

Naruto shook his head. "Kinda; I talked to the fox. He's weirdly happy that I'm leading the village."

Kakashi hummed and sipped from his cup. "That's nice."

"Also, he told me his name is Kurama and he's offered to teach me how to shape-shift."

Kakashi inhaled half a mouthful of steaming-hot tea, and had to be thumped on the back vigorously before he could stop coughing long enough to wheeze, "Was that a joke?"

* * *

**8th of February, 66 f.K.**

Sakura had begun her search for Danzo's treachery in his old office; it seemed the place to do it. The office itself had held no incriminating evidence, because Danzo was much too crafty for that sort of mistake, but it was worth checking. After, she had walked up and down the hallway outside of it and tried to see into the mind of the dead man.

_I want to protect Konoha_ , she thought, _whether they like it or not. Where do I start that? I'm not the type to let things outside my own sight for a long time...._

She had remembered the Sharingan eyes in his arm, and shivered.

_So it will be close by, or an entrance will. If there's an entrance, a bolthole, it has to be underground. There's no other way to make sure it goes unseen._

Danzo's original office had been on the ground floor of the Hokage tower. It was so out-of-the-way that it could only have been a snub by the Third to assign him to it, but Danzo would have made the most of it. In the filing room across the hall, Sakura had moved some filing cabinets out of the way and found a half-height door in the wall, labeled 'Maintenance'.

_Bingo._

Now, four days after that find, she had finally broken through Danzo's ludicrous amounts of protections. These included a maze of tunnels, many of which were switch-backs and dead ends, hidden traps and doors, and in one memorable case, a pack of half-starved feral dogs. These she had taken to Kakashi-sensei.

At the heart of this warren, Sakura found what she had been looking for.

She consulted her hand-drawn map of the tunnels, and took the fastest route back up to the Tower. It was a long trek, since she was somewhere underneath the Memorial Stone and there was no direct path. She scaled the outside of the Tower, tired of being surrounded by walls all the time, and stuck her head in Naruto's window. Her eye twitched.

In the four days she had been occupied with investigating Danzo, Naruto had managed to: paint his office orange, paint a black spiral on each wall, frame and hang the Ichiraku menu, and hand-carve a series of increasingly-accurate bowls of ramen into his baseboards. She rounded on Sasuke, who had on his Fox ANBU mask and was ostensibly guarding Naruto. In reality, they were arm-wrestling.

"You couldn't have put a stop to this?" She demanded.

Sasuke looked around like he didn't know damn well what was wrong with his surroundings. He shrugged. "I burned the paintings he wanted to put up, and two of the pictures."

"The paintings were of perfectly respectable battles - "

"Not ninja battles," Sasuke interjected.

" - and the pictures were harmless!"

"Depicted Naruto's clone harem technique around a Kakashi that he'd just tired out with a spar, and a nude."

Sakura sighed heavily, and then paused with her fingers at her temples. "Wait, who was the nude of?"

Sasuke looked uncomfortable. Naruto grinned evilly.

"How... did he even... of you?"

"Because he has no boundaries," Sasuke hissed, "Including showers in the morning."

"You got nothing I haven't seen before buddy."

"Hokage," Iruka poked his head into the office, taking in Sakura sitting on the sill and trying to stave off a headache, and the cheerful Naruto and typically expressionless Sasuke. "Team Fourteen is here to receive their first C-rank."

"Send 'em in, Iruka!" Naruto crowed. "You guys wait up a second, I got something good for them."

Team Fourteen filed in nervously, the children appearing spooked to be face with both the Hokage and his infamous teammates at the same time. Their jounin-sensei was more composed about it.

"Jounin Aoba, you think your team is ready for a C-rank mission?" Naruto said, his tone professional even though his smile still lit up his eyes.

"I do, Hokage," Aoba replied simply.

Naruto leaned forward, pulling up an expression of doubt. "And you three are sure, as well?"

The team's girl genin burst forward with a shout of "Yeah, quit it with all the D-ranks!"

Naruto sat back and smiled sunnily. "Okay then. I know the guy who hired you for this one personally; he's cool now but he used to be a real whiner. He needs an escort back to his home in Wave. Yo, Inari, get in here and meet your ninja!"

"This is the last time I come visit you, Naruto," A boy about the age of fourteen complained, leaving the door open behind him. He looked at the genin. "Man, these guys are younger than me!"

"Same age as I was when I saved your ass, brat," Naruto retorted, and finished with the mission briefing. He none-too-gently shoved all of the children out of his office, and in a quick aside to Aoba said, "He's a friend, try not to throw him off a bridge. I know it's tempting."

Then, finally, he turned back to Sakura and Sasuke who were engaged in a match of Go in the corner of Naruto's office. Naruto wondered where it had come from; he didn't own a board, or the cushions they were sitting on.

"What did you find, Sakura?"

"I found his records." She took a deep breath and looked at Sasuke. He only looked back, calm but ready. Part of her didn't want to tell him this; wanted to protect him. She said it anyway.

"According to what was in his files, the Uchiha clan was planning a rebellion. They wanted more power in the village. They wanted to not be the bad guys any more. The Third didn't listen to his warnings, or he thought that he could solve the conflict peacefully, so Danzo took things into his own hands with the rest of the Council; Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. They went to ANBU member Itachi Uchiha and ordered him to kill his entire clan to forestall a civil war."

Sasuke was terribly still.

Half an age passed around them, in the silence.

Finally, Sasuke rose to his feet. "Don't follow me," he croaked, pulling his ANBU mask from his face, and in a flash was out the window.

Sakura glanced at Naruto, who snapped, "Hell yes we're following him," and went too.

They caught up to Sasuke in the middle of the Uchiha compound, where he had fallen to his knees and pressed his forehead to the earth. He looked like he might scream.

"Say it, Sasuke," Naruto ordered. "Fucking stop holding it all in for once in your life. Say it!"

Sasuke didn't say anything. He screamed instead, the wordless howl of a man beyond all understanding. He punched the ground next to him.

Naruto stepped forward and yanked him up by the back of his shirt. He gave a bloodthirsty grin straight into the madness in Sasuke's whirling red eyes. "Fight me, you coward, _my village killed your family_."

Sasuke snarled and went for the throat.

He went entirely offensive, guarding nothing, and Naruto was forced to step back under each blow. Sasuke was faster; it had always been true. But Naruto was made to weather a storm like this. He stayed defensive, spat out the blood when it filled his mouth, and finally spotted his opportunity.

He latched on to Sasuke and turned it into a wrestling match.

Sasuke nearly managed to get him into a headlock, but Naruto's head ducked and he savaged that pale arm with sharp teeth. Sasuke took this opportunity to headbutt Naruto, proving that his higher reasoning skills weren't in effect; in a headbutt, Naruto always came out the winner. Naruto had nearly managed to pin him when Sasuke got enough leverage to flip them, took hold of Naruto's hair, and slammed the back of his head into the ground.

Naruto's eyes came up red and slit-pupiled.

He shoved Sasuke away bodily, and they circled warily like cats for a moment. Naruto taunted, Sasuke rushed, and it began again.

It ended later with Naruto finally fully pinning Sasuke to the ground, both arms behind his back.

"You done?" Naruto asked, leaning over to see Sasuke's face and panting heavily.

Sasuke glared at Naruto out of the corner of his eye, half-faced into the dirt. "Yeah."

Naruto sighed expansively. "Thank the dark god," he exclaimed, falling over. "I'm done too. Glad we got that out of your system."

Sasuke rolled onto his back with a little difficulty. They laid there in silence, and Sakura came over to sit next to them.

"I would have killed you," Sasuke admitted eventually.

"I know."

"Thanks for not letting me."

"You're a fucked-up piece of work, Sasuke, but you're ours anyway."

Sakura leaned over and smoothed her fingers through Sasuke's hair. He was too tired to swat her away. "Yeah, and at this point training another teammate would just be way too much work."

"It wasn't your village that killed my family," Sasuke declared. He looked over at Naruto, who met his gaze evenly, uncharacteristically serious. "It was _theirs_. Yours will be different." He paused, searched Naruto's face for an answer. "Or I _will_ kill you, and raze this blood-soaked village to the ground, and salt the earth where once it stood."

Naruto nodded. "If I ever cross a line like that, you have my permission."

* * *

The smiling cat clock ticked steadily on the wall, tail swinging back and forth. The hands on its stomach read that it was far too late for Naruto to still be working. He heaved a deep breath and sat back from the desk, letting himself be mesmerized by the slow, limited progress of the tail from side to side.

He was trying not to remember what they'd found when they went to confront Homura and Koharu. It happened anyway.

_Kakashi, collected from the jounin standby station only minutes ago, took one look and turned on his heel. He sauntered back out the door like that sight hadn't relived one of the worst memories of his childhood, and stood there with his hands in his pockets._

_Sakura asked, "Are you okay, sensei?"_

_Kakashi turned a little - not enough to be able to catch a glimpse through the open door again - and gave her an empty smile. "Just some old demons come back to haunt me."_

The suicide note cited their guilt over their involvement in Danzo's plans, especially the reforms to the village - Naruto had already abolished these Academy revisions - and the Uchiha Massacre. There were no signs of struggle, even after the swords went in their stomachs. It was Koharu's house; presumably they had decided to die together, as a team. Nothing had looked out of place.

Naruto had had his suspicions anyway.

_Naruto flexed his fingers and reached to mold chakra. There was that twist to it, the pull and push to dis-align the physical body and set it into another form. Naruto became a small red fox, the only form he had mastered so far. The fox's nose was much sharper than a human nose could hope to achieve._

_Even though he could speak in that shape, he changed back so he could look Sasuke in the eye as he said, "Someone who smells like you was here when this happened."_

"Why would he kill the only people who might be able to clear his name?" Naruto demanded of the empty office.

Kakashi melted off the shadows of one wall, coming to sit across the desk from Naruto. "He killed his whole clan for the sake of the village. Any way you look at that, he can't be a very sane individual."

"So, what, he slaughters people for the village and then leaves and starts working for a group of missing-nin? What happened to all that loyalty?"

"Well, loyalty can be a finite resource," Kakashi allowed, "And all of his could have been used up on the massacre. Or there's the other option."

Naruto sighed again and put his head down on his desk. "He could still be loyal. He could have been reporting this entire time... to Danzo."

Kakashi hummed noncommittally and continued, "In fact, I'd guess that after he heard that Danzo was dead, Itachi decided to close that entire chapter of Konoha's history. There were only three of them left that knew it, and three can keep a secret if two of them are dead. It wouldn't surprise me if he went straight to Danzo's secret office in Root after it, and found that he'd gotten there too late."

"Sakura's got the best timing, in that case."

"She's the smart one. You are not, which is why you're the Hokage, and working past midnight. Let's go home."

Naruto stood up and put the coat on. Kakashi, watching, had an uncomfortable moment when his memory overlaid reality and he saw Minato's face instead of Naruto's. It passed.

"You okay, sensei?"

Kakashi smiled. "You kids are always asking me that. Do I look fragile?"

Naruto shot him a brittle grin and answered truthfully, "Sometimes."

_Sasuke had fallen hunched over to his knees, his head bowed so low that they could not see his face. His shoulders were shaking; his arms had come up and hands wrapped around the back of his neck. He looked like a man waiting to survive a bomb._

_In voice tight with barely-held control, unable to look at them, he asked, "Why doesn't he want me to know?"_

_They didn't touch him; however much he looked like he needed it, Sasuke didn't like to be touched. But Naruto and Sakura stayed right next to him, and Sakura answered, "He wants a simpler world for you. He wants peace."_


	2. Blockade Breakdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto re-establishes Konoha's contact with the other shinobi nations. It does not always go well.

**9th of February, 66 f.K.**

Shikaku looked up from his lunch to see his new Hokage walking into the shop. Naruto was wearing the robe but not the hat, and following behind him like a shadow was Kakashi Hatake. The man scanned the interior of the shop - six tables, a counter to order at, and three other patrons.

Naruto went straight up to the counter and ordered. Shikaku continued to eat, slowly, as the Hokage came away with his food and made a straight line for Shikaku's table.

"Hey there, Chief," Naruto greeted with a sunny smile, sliding into the booth seat across from Shikaku. Kakashi slid in next to him, still silent. As usual, Shikaku couldn't read a thing from that eye.

Shikaku had debated within himself whether Kakashi was controlling Konoha through his student. His constant presence near Naruto argued yes, while his complete lack of ambition for political power argued no. The jury was still out; the question might be moot anyway. Even if Naruto commanded most things, he'd probably bend to his teacher under pressure.

"Hokage," Shikaku greeted respectfully, after swallowing.

Naruto pushed about a third of their food in front of Kakashi. He began, "So, you heard about the Hokage Council I'm sure."

Shikaku nodded. That was going to be a mess of an investigation. "We're looking into it, but it looks like suicide."

"I think I know what happened, but I'd like an independent investigation to verify it."

Shikaku stopped chewing and glared a little. "I don't appreciate wasting my time or my officers' time. If you already know what happened, just tell us."

"No," Naruto replied, drawing the word out carelessly. Shikaku was reminded abruptly of his son's habitual insolence, except on Shikamaru it had never seemed dangerous. "I want independent verification. This matter is related to that man's treachery and... another stain on this village's history, so it's kinda important that it's all above-board."

Shikaku snorted, thinking of Orochimaru, the Uchiha, and the other scars in Konoha's past, all the way back to the Valley of the End. "Which one?"

Naruto grinned again, stretching those whisker marks wide. "That would be as good as telling you, huh?" He shoveled more food into his mouth, and Shikaku took the opportunity to finish off his own meal. He needed to get back to headquarters soon, but he had a feeling that the Hokage wasn't done with him yet.

"So anyway, about the Hokage Council," Naruto said again. "With all the other members dead, I could do away with it altogether, but sensei tells me that I'm too young to do all the ruling stuff by myself."

At this, Kakashi's eye gave an impression of a smile, and he nodded. Shikaku eyed the man; even for a man who didn't talk much, Kakashi was being strangely silent. And somehow the food in front of him was steadily disappearing.

"So I need people who can give me advice. What do you say, Shikaku?"

Shikaku forced his attention back to Naruto. "You want me to be on your Council?" he asked, incredulous. He was already the Chief of Police; Naruto wanted him to do even more work?

It seemed so. "Yeah, I do. You got the voice of the police force, you know stuff I can't get anywhere else. I'm not gonna make the same mistakes of having three old relics telling me what to do, stuck with their heads in the past and up their asses." Naruto growled. Did Shikaku detect some hostility towards the late Council members? "I've already got sensei, obviously, and the old pervert Jiraiya and the old lady when she can be dragged out of the hospital. You got recommendations for anyone else?"

Shikaku considered for a long moment, glancing between Kakashi's still face and Naruto's impassioned one. If he wanted differing viewpoints, Inoichi and Chouza were out; both of them were perfectly in tune with Shikaku's thoughts. But there must be someone useful who should suffer through this with him....

"Ah, if you were looking for a little more respectability, you could ask Asuma. He has to have picked up at least a few things from his father. I got to know him fairly well when he was my son's training jounin."

"Great! I'll send you a message when I need you, then. See ya 'round, Chief!"

* * *

**12th of February, 66 f.K.**

Ino had just finished handing in her report on the easy recon mission - preface to an assassination; she had recommended that the target's wife wasn't terribly happy in their marriage - to her new Hokage.

Naruto continued to be a surprise. After four years on the run outside the village walls - how romantic! Like a fairytale - she didn't truly expect him to be the same whiny, loudmouthed brat he had been; but the reality of him was even more different. He was calmer, more centered, no longer reaching out to everyone around him to prove himself worthy of their attention. She liked the change.

She liked this less: passing by Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto trekking their way through the restaurant street, nibbling on dango sticks, clearly just back from a mission. Ino stopped in their way.

"Naruto!" she demanded, "I can't believe you're having your clones handle Hokage duties alone. Or is this even the real one?"

All three stopped in their tracks, looking surprised. Sakura opened her mouth, an expression on her face as if she wanted to calm Ino down, but Sasuke interrupted.

He looked at Naruto, standing between himself and his other teammate, and asked, "I actually haven't checked in a while, did you swap out with a clone at some point?"

The Hokage grinned. "Yeah, about an hour ago. Boss wanted to go see the old sage about something."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, and with one elbow popped the clone. Ino snorted; and she'd just been thinking Naruto might have changed.

"I hate talking to clones like they're the real thing," she grumbled, "Maybe every time I see him, I'll test him with a kunai."

Sasuke stepped forward, a warning in his eyes, but Sakura put her hand on his chest and said to Ino, "That would technically be attacking your Hokage. I'm sure Naruto wouldn't mind it, but it sends the wrong kind of message."

They were still in the middle of a bustling street, filled with people filtering in and out of restaurants for lunch. Ino was reminded of this when a rounded older man tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.

And when he had it, his face dropped the polite smile. In nearly a monotone, the old man said, "If you start throwing knives at us, you'll never see anything but smoke again."

And then he dispelled.

Ino rubbed her shoulder and turned back to the other two. They were still watching her; they didn't seem surprised that one of the people on the street had turned out to be a Naruto clone in disguise. "How many of them are him?"

Sasuke tilted his head. "Does it matter?"

"Well, what's he _doing_?"

"Learning about the people of the village," Sakura shrugged. "You guys haven't gotten to see it yet, but Naruto's really good at being undercover... in certain circumstances. He's reconnecting with the village."

Ino stared. Team seven had slotted so easily back into Konoha, even after the assassination and the trial, that she had nearly forgotten that they had been away for four years. Now she remembered: the two ninja in front of her had years of experience and training unknown to her, and her own Hokage had to learn about his village.

Ino smiled and offered, "Hey, want to come get dinner with me? You can tell me some of your adventures on the road."

Sakura grinned back, and caught Sasuke's shoulder when he tried to peel off and leave them. "Sure! Sasuke can come too, right? Maybe you can get Shikamaru and Chouji in here, we'll make it a team thing - Naruto!"

Two civilians stood out in the crowd parting around them, going silent and still, turning their faces to Sakura. A third clone appeared from a narrow alley between two shops, this one dressed as a ninja Ino was only vaguely familiar with.

Sakura waved the two civilian clones off. "I only need one of you, we're going to get lunch with Ino's team."

The illusion on the ninja vanished smoothly, like wiping water off a table. Naruto stood there, eyes glittering. "Great! I'm feelin' some ramen; I've been out for a while, need to refuel."

Sakura snorted. "Then ramen is the last thing you need. We're going for something more filling." She started through the crowd, following a stream of people.

"Shika and Chouji will be getting ready to eat at Chouji's restaurant right about now, waiting on me to come back from my mission," Ino said. "Naruto's clones can eat?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, if they've been around long enough. Their chakra supply can run real low after a while, and eating can supplement it. It's a shadow clone thing; the elemental clones from other techniques just let the food sit there in the stomach until they dispel, which was really disgusting to find out, let me tell you. The shadow clones vanish everything when they go, even half-digested."

"You know a lot about it," Ino remarked, impressed.

Sasuke snorted, surprising both the girls that he was voluntarily speaking up. "It's the idiot's favorite technique. We've had a lot of time to learn."

* * *

**18th of February, 66 f.K.**

Naruto inhaled deep the dry air of the savanna land between Fire Country and Wind Country. He'd been through here many times since, but he always remembered the first most clearly. He'd killed here; had believed Sakura to be dead here.

Turning his head, he commented to Sasuke, "Brings back memories, right?"

Sasuke grimaced. "Yes, I shudder to think how many times you nearly lost control before we knew about the Nine-Tails."

Instead of a verbal answer, Naruto tried to put Sasuke in a headlock. Sakura kicked them apart before it could turn into a full-out brawl.

"This is supposed to be a diplomatic mission!" she growled, shoving Naruto back with one foot and Sasuke with both hands. Naruto was grinning at Sasuke, who was just as disappointed to not get his fight. "Get it together, you two."

"I don't lose control." Naruto insisted, turning back towards Wind Country.

Sasuke snorted and muttered, " _Often_."

"Oh, I will - !"

"Are they always like this?" Asuma asked, smoking meditatively on a cigarette. He was looking at the others with interest, like watching a well-practiced play.

Kakashi sighed heavily and drew a hand over his face. "It was never this bad before Sasuke loosened up a little. But yes, always."

"Ah." Asuma acknowledged, and paused to take in Sakura punching Naruto so hard that he went flying. He added, "It's a goddamn miracle you weren't killed or captured."

"Alright kids, break time is over!" Kakashi called, standing up.

Naruto reappeared looking no worse for wear from his flight. "Finally! Let's go!"

"Wait." He looked ready to start running again right away, but stilled entirely with that single word from Kakashi. "Round up."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all presently immediately in a tight circle in front of Kakashi. After a moment, Naruto shuffled to the side and offered the opened space to Asuma.

"We'll be coming up on the sandstorm's territory pretty soon," Kakashi began. "I've told you about it before?"

Naruto nodded. "It's a monster that lives in the Wind Country desert. Attacks pretty much anyone; only ninja can outrun it, and only if they have enough warning." He took on the tone of someone telling a ghost story. "No one is sure what it is or what caused it, although some say it is the gathered spirits of the Sand ninja who died in the Third Shinobi War, haunting their living comrades - "

Kakashi shot him a flat, unimpressed look.

" - sorry, sensei. Anyway, best guess is that it's a rogue demon or S-class missing-nin. It's caused a lot of Sand's economic problems, cutting them off from outside support." Naruto stopped and turned to let his eyes scan the horizon. He added with a bloodthirsty grin, "I want to fight it."

" _Anyway_ ," Kakashi continued over that comment, rolling his eye, "We'll be crossing that territory soon, so everyone keeps an eye out for anything unusual."

"I didn't feel anything the last time I came through here." Naruto objected.

Kakashi held up one finger, counting off, "First, you were moving at top speed for a prolonged time - that's pretty much to be expected. Second, you were heading to Wind Country's lord, not to Hidden Sand; they're in different directions. You probably only went through the edge of the sandstorm's known territory."

Asuma put in, "Plus, I've heard the story of how you got to the lord of Wind. There's not many things that are gonna take on most of an army charging across the desert."

Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Heh, yeah, I am pretty awesome."

"That's not what he meant," Sasuke muttered.

Kakashi restrained another sigh, and went to help Sakura keep the boys off of each other yet again. They'd be better behaved in the public environment of Hidden Sand; he couldn't wait.

* * *

**19th of February, 66 f.K.**

"Naruto, I swear to the dark god, if you get into another spitting contest with a camel _I will end you_." Sakura dragged her teammate away from the stables by the back of his Hokage robes.

"I wasn't gonna!" he insisted, even while glaring at a bad-tempered camel who was staring unconcerned at a patch of grass behind him.

"That's right, you weren't, because you are _the Hokage_ and supposed to present a respectable image to the other villages!" She stopped beside the others, who were negotiating entrance through the only gate into Sand's fortified valley, and glared at Sasuke. "Make sure he stays put this time."

Sasuke nodded, accepting this responsibility. Just out of sight of Sand, he'd put on his ANBU mask and Kakashi had given Naruto back the Hokage hat, kept safe and clean. They looked almost like a presentable diplomatic group.

Kakashi had just jabbed his thumb back at Naruto. The chuunin gate guard shot him an unimpressed look. "You expect me to believe that's the Leaf's new Hokage?"

Naruto stepped up with a cheerful grin; he was used to dealing with people who doubted him. "Yeah, I am. Which means you let me through, or I go through you."

The Sand chuunin froze in place, the atmosphere around him suddenly pressing in. There was a silence around him usually found only in the deepest depths of lifeless caves, the darkest and coldest waters, and it was a crushing heaviness on his eardrums. Taking a breath was difficult, but he managed to wheeze, "Stop."

The feeling vanished. Naruto was still wearing that carefree smile, but it had an edge to it.

"Let me send a message bird to the Kazekage, and then you can go through." Without stopping for a response, the chuunin hurried back into his guard house.

The Leaf ninja didn't wait for him to return; Naruto led the way through the gate onto Sand's main street. "That went well," he commented, pleased.

Asuma was still trying to get his breath back. "That felt like - "

"Yeah, you get used to it." Kakashi cut him off before he could finish, and say that it had felt like when the Nine-Tailed Fox had attacked. His eye darted around, taking in all of Hidden Sand. "Well, sort of. Not really."

The Village Hidden in the Sand was not prospering, and hadn't been for years. Naruto could see it in the dilapidated houses, in the lack of variety of food, in the hollow eyes and cheeks of its people. Those civilian merchants who could afford to had left long ago, taking with them a lot of income.

Sand's only saving grace was the oasis it sat on. This cool water welled up from deep below ground, seemingly endless; they were the only source of water in this area of the desert, which forced travelers to detour into Sand whether they cared to or not. And once in the village, these travelers usually found themselves divested of valuables one way or another.

"I wish I could help them," Naruto muttered, not really meant to be heard.

Kakashi glanced back over his shoulder; he was walking point, acting as vanguard for the Hokage. "They're a rival village. You're already doing them a favor by hosting the Exams and offering to secure the passage between our countries."

Looking around at the desperate people, Sakura figured that it had somehow slipped Kakashi's mind how often Naruto made friends with the people who were supposed to be his rivals, his enemies. And these people needed help more than any of those others had.

"I'll look into it when we get home," she whispered, drawing closer for a couple steps. He turned his head to smile his thanks at her.

Kakashi had led them straight up to the center of the village, where the Kama stood. Sand's equivalent of the Hokage Tower, the Kama was a nearly spherical building, almost the height of the Tower but much wider. The inside would be slightly less spacious; the walls were thick to provide insulation from the desert's hot days and freezing nights.

The Kazekage stood before the Kama's only entrance, arms folded, with three Sand jounin in attendance.

Kakashi waved lazily. "Hello; you've been expecting us."

The Kazekage gazed down at them from the high ground, eyes scanning all five of the party. "Copy-Cat Kakashi, his students the Hokage and the medic, and Asuma Sarutobi, of the late Third Hokage Sarutobi." Staring at Sasuke's mask, the Kazekage added, "And I see you've brought the Fox. Yes, word of your newest ANBU reached us long ago. Do you think it will intimidate me?"

Naruto tilted his head, getting the long brim of his ceremonial hat out of the way so he could squint at the Kazekage. "Nah, Fox is just here as my guard. I'm Naruto Uzumaki! It's nice to see another Kage who's not an old geezer; I thought there'd be no one out there like me."

The Kazekage sighed and uncrossed her arms, gesturing for them to follow her. "I'm Temari of the Sand. If you come in peace, come in; we've got a lot to discuss."

* * *

"See, Sand was the only one to deny my invitation to the Exams," Naruto began, putting his hands on the low table like he was laying out all his cards in a hand of poker. "So I wanna know why."

"That's rich, coming from Konoha," Temari snorted. "You've been taking missions from the Wind Lord that should rightfully go to Sand; why should we attend anything you host?"

Naruto leaned forward. "To show your Wind Lord that your shinobi are strong! C'mon, send us a few plants in the genin ranks or something, at least! Are you sneaky ninja or not?"

One of the jounin attending Temari looked about to protest, but she silenced him with a gesture. Naruto longed for that kind of respect from his people. "The point is moot, anyway; we cannot afford to send out ninja in so great a number, not and pass through the sandstorm's territory unsecured. He would eat our genin alive."

Naruto exclaimed, "Thought it was something like that. We'll secure your safe passage, don't worry about it - I want to go up against the sandstorm anyway! So when the time comes around for the Exams, we'll come get your genin."

Temari's lip curled into a sneer. "Sand does not need your _charity_ ," she snapped, "And you could not stand against the sandstorm any more than you could stand against the ocean tides or the changing of season. It is a demon, one of the oldest; Konoha at the very least should know of their destructive power. One killed your Fourth."

Naruto grinned lazily, sitting back on his cushion. "Actually, it was the Death God that killed my father." Temari startled; Sand didn't have any pictures of the Fourth Hokage, but she had heard of the yellow hair - "And with his sacrifice, sealed the demon into _me_. So, see, it'll be a pretty fair fight."

"You contain a demon?" Temari asked, heart sinking. She looked at the other Leaf ninja, but they didn't seem concerned. If the Hokage was a jinchuuriki, they would not be guards; they'd be here to make sure he didn't go on a rampage. "Leave my village."

The demon container's face twisted into a grimace and a frisson of fear shot through Temari's stomach. "Don't tell me you're one of those people who gets all unreasonable about my kind."

"Get out of my village!" Temari shouted, standing. "My brother was bad enough, and he was only host to the One-Tailed Demon. I'll not have another sandstorm, not here. You are not welcome."

Naruto had frozen in place. His head wasn't tilted up to see her; the brim of the Hokage hat hid his face from view. Toneless, he stated, "The sandstorm is your brother."

"The sandstorm is Shukaku; nothing of its host remains. It took us a long time to see that. Konoha is a fool for letting a human sacrifice become its leader." Temari gripped her fan, getting ready for a fight.

Finally the jinchuuriki stood, and she could see his face again. Those whisker scars looked sinister in a new light. Copy-Cat Kakashi put his hand on the host's shoulder, restraining him or offering support; Temari couldn't tell.

"Naruto," he warned softly.

The jinchuuriki's bright blue eyes caught hers, and she could not look away. "Come with us, Kazekage," he offered. "We'll find your brother, and I'll show you a demon."

* * *

"Kazekage?" Izuko asked her from just behind her left shoulder.

"We're making sure they leave." Temari affirmed, as she followed behind the party of Leaf ninja.

Izuko hesitated, but said it anyway. "We left the gates of Sand behind a while ago."

Temari nodded. From her right shoulder, Kankuro piped up, "Why are you really following them?"

_He contains the Nine-Tails; he has the best chance of killing Shukaku. I want this to be over. I'm so tired of being afraid of my own desert, brother._

Kankuro wouldn't understand. He had preferred to handle things from afar; he'd send these Leaf ninja away, and sit back to wait in the village for word of what had happened. Of course, distance hadn't helped him when Gaara snapped.

"Maybe Shukaku was meant to kill all the Kazekage line." Temari murmured, heard only by Izuko. He was her usual guard, used to hearing Temari talk to herself and the voice of her dead brother in her head.

"He's close, and he knows we're here." Naruto announced, frowning into the middle distance. He added, "It seems like he was waiting."

"He's coming for me." Temari told them. "I haven't left our village since my brother succumbed to the demon because I knew he'd want to kill me too."

Naruto eyed her distrustfully. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." Temari curled her upper lip at him, disdainful.

Like she'd just admitted to torturing him, Naruto snorted. "So his family treated him just as well as everyone else. Shocking that he didn't see much reason to resist his demon."

"Worse, we were worse." Came Kankuro's whisper. "We told people to stay away from him. We told strangers that he was a monster. He never stood a chance."

_I don't know why you're suddenly protective of him. He crushed you in his sand just like he'd do to anyone who annoyed him._

"He left my head intact."

Temari didn't respond to that, even in her own mind. She didn't have an answer for that. Gaara had crushed the body, but left Kankuro's head untouched below the jaw. She still heard his dying scream in her nightmares.

The sandstorm rolled over the horizon rapidly, cresting a sand dune and tumbling down the side of it faster than a shinobi could run. Temari felt the familiar fear in her, desert-born, the urge to burrow down and weather the storm.

The storm came to an unnatural halt before them, winds whirling into a cyclone, and then dispersed. Standing there among sand grains drifting slowly back to the earth was a boy with bright red hair and dark circles around his eyes, and the word _love_ written on his brow.

Somehow, seeing him left Temari feeling like she'd been punched in the gut with a guilt-hammer. "We did that," Kankuro whispered again, but this time he used Temari's voice.

Gaara's head tilted as he surveyed them. He told Temari, "Mother says you die first." and lifted his sand.

Temari fully expected to die of it, but Naruto darted between her and the demonic sand, cutting through it with a red-tinted wind technique.

"I don't like to be ignored, Shukaku," Naruto growled in two voices.

Gaara paused, hand still outstretched to Temari. "Kurama?"

The Nine-Tailed jinchuuriki - or was it the demon in control now? - spread his arms out, inviting an attack. "Who else comes around just to kick your ass?"

"Kurama!" Shukaku snarled, and began to transform.

The thing in Naruto's body looked back over his shoulder, flashing slit-pupiled red eyes and thick, dark whisker marks. "You guys might wanna get back for this one."

Temari had never seen a demon show concern for things outside of itself before, but she decided to consider it later. She grabbed the two jounin who were frozen in place, and with Izuko beat a hasty retreat. The Leaf ninja came with, minus the Fox and Sakura. Those two were nowhere to be seen.

"What happened to your others?" Temari demanded. If they died on her watch, it could be war. Hell, if their Hokage died here it would be for sure.

Kakashi shrugged, not at all worried. "Sakura's probably underfoot somewhere, and I'm sure Fox is doing his best."

That was just maddeningly unhelpful. Since the Copy-Cat wasn't worried, Temari turned back to the demons' battle.

Shukaku was fully transformed, a massive raccoon-dog made of sand and hatred. He swiped mercilessly at the other demon, who was encased in an avatar of chakra shaped like something canine. Naruto's body was in the center of it, mimicking the avatar's actions in smaller scale.

The miasma of the fox's body seemed almost liquid; it was dripping onto the sand. Temari looked closer, and saw that what dropped landed on four legs, the size and shape of a normal fox, and ran darting at Shukaku's paws in the sand. There they crawled his legs and burned his sand into glass, enraging the beast further.

Shukaku opened its mouth wide, and power began to build there as a distortion in the air. The fox darted left, a feint - flickered briefly to the right - double feint - and then instead of reaching out with its claws or teeth, launched itself fully at Shukaku's head.

The sand demon's jaw snapped shut on that power, roiling smoke spilling from between the teeth, and both creatures went tumbling. The fox was first on its feet, disengaging with a single graceful leap backwards. It circled as Shukaku stood more slowly, gathering its sand body around itself.

"You are strong enough to try a Tailed-Beast Ball?" the fox mocked, a huge voice that could be heard for miles. "I'm surprised, Shukaku. Your charge-time is awful as always, though."

Shukaku's only answer was an earth-trembling roar, and a bright new madness in its eyes.

The creatures collided head-on. The more agile form of the fox slid under, muzzle-first between Shukaku's forelegs, and surged upwards to unbalance the sand demon. Shukaku fell backwards, but in response a wave of sand swept the fox from the side, cutting deep into the chakra miasma, nearly reaching the body within.

The fox snarled and locked its jaws on one of Shukaku's legs, tearing it away into a shower of lifeless sand. It began to reform almost immediately, until a gout of flame erupted from beneath the massive avatar and cauterized the stump into glass.

"You cannot fight me alone, Kurama?!" Shukaku howled, tearing at the glass stuck to itself with one hind leg, retreating awkwardly on the other two.

The avatar of the fox grinned, showing off a wicked set of fangs. "Why would I want to? Just because no one cares to fight for you doesn't mean the rest of us are so weak."

He snapped again at Shukaku, and took off another leg. Temari saw this time as the ANBU Fox darted out of the ground, blasted Shukaku with a fire technique, and retreated.

"Oh," the demon fox said, as if he'd just remembered. "And I'm not Kurama." He showed all those teeth again, lunging straight for the crippled raccoon-dog's throat. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki!"

Shukaku's form began to crumble away, trickling sand like blood. Kakashi and Asuma began to move closer; Temari couldn't help but follow.

As the demons' size decreased, the volume of their earth-shaking voices fell too. Temari caught up in time to hear Shukaku ask, "Are you so weak you cannot control your own host, Kurama? I bent this body to my will long ago."

Naruto was holding Gaara's body down, glaring. "Kurama and I have a partnership," he replied. "Which makes us better than any isolated outcast like you, Shukaku. You ignore any strength that takes true effort to achieve. We are the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. If we say it, all the ninja of the Leaf fight with us; you are nothing in the face of that power. You say you subjugate one body, one boy? _I control hundreds_."

After a pause, looking at the exhausted body of Shukaku's host, he added, "And you cannot even control this one when your strength runs out. You truly are the weakest of us."

Shukaku raged, thrashing against Naruto's hold. The Hokage looked up for the first time, catching Fox's mask. "Fox, I want to talk to the host."

Fox nodded and stepped above Gaara's pinned head. He crouched and leaned until his swirling red eyes met Gaara's.

" **Sleep**." Fox intoned, and Gaara's body went limp. After a moment's pause, he blinked blearily as though waking up.

"Mother?" Gaara asked. "What did you do?"

Naruto got off of Gaara, sitting back. He rubbed his hand through his hair. "Hey, Gaara, right?"

Gaara's attention fixed on him, unnerving black-rimmed eyes and expressionless face.

"You know Shukaku isn't your mother, don't you?" Gaara hesitated. "Fox put him to sleep, don't worry; he can't hear you."

"I know." Gaara confirmed softly.

"But it's the only thing that ever gave a damn about you, so it doesn't matter."

"Yes."

"Bet you wish he was nicer to you, right? Wish he didn't make everyone afraid of you all the time?" Gaara refused to respond, but he looked away, over the sand, like he was searching for an escape.

"Well, now we've challenged him to get better." Naruto shifted to the side, catching Gaara's eye again. "Hey, me and Kurama showed him that we're stronger together. He's gonna try to work with you more now. He hates to lose to Kurama, so it'll be like a competition for him. Last time they had a competition, Shukaku made this desert and Kurama knocked down some mountains."

"...A competition?" Gaara managed.

Naruto grinned at him. "Yeah! See, now it's up to you to make sure he stays in line. You gotta set down the rules about not killing people randomly. But if you just let things continue as they are now, then this is your life... forever." Naruto gestured blindly over his shoulder - at Temari. "How they look at you? That's the only thing you're ever gonna get if you go like this. Me, I'm like you; I'm a jinchuuriki too. People used to hate me and fear me for the things Kurama did to my village, but I proved 'em wrong. I'm the Hokage now."

Gaara stared at Temari. She looked back, and didn't know what showed on her face. There were no clear thoughts in her mind, just a numb sort of feeling. Perhaps he saw how helpless she felt. Gaara managed in a rough voice, "It does not matter if I change. They will never trust me again."

"Kankuro forgave you for killing him." Temari realized late that those words had come out of her mouth. And they kept spilling out, things she thought she would never get to say. "I found his notes in his puppet workshop. He knew what was happening to you, but he was too scared to stop it. He didn't know how. He knew you were going to kill him, or me, and he forgave you for it. He knew that we made you."

The voice in her head sighed, _"Thank you, sister."_ and blew away into the breeze.

Temari finished, tears welling up, speaking past the knot in her throat, "And I can forgive you, too."

* * *

**21st of February, 66 f.K.**

Naruto noticed that Gaara, standing next to him on the tree branch, was gazing at the gates of Konoha with the kind of trepidation that came more from trying to hide emotion than just not feeling it.

"Hey," he nudged the other. Gaara startled as though he'd been lost in thought, but his sand didn't reach out at all; already a vast improvement from the first time Naruto tried to touch him. "Don't worry so much, Gaara. They can handle me, they can handle you."

Gaara looked Naruto up and down, clearly in disagreement. "We are very different." He pointed out.

"We don't have to be. That's why Temari said you could come to Konoha with us; so you can figure some stuff out around people who aren't always so scared of you. They'll react to you a lot better back in Sand if you act different than you did before."

After a thoughtful pause, Gaara concluded, "It seems unequal that I have to change for them." But he didn't seem entirely resistant to the idea.

During their two days of travel time, not counting the conclusion of peace talks between Suna and Konoha, Gaara had been next to Naruto almost constantly. He'd seen the irreverent, careless way that Naruto interacted with his teammates and his teacher, the quiet but clear respect from Asuma Sarutobi. He knew now, in a visceral way, that he did not have to be isolated.

He wanted so badly to be able to reach out and touch someone.

Naruto shrugged at this, looking over his village again. He imagined paint on the Hokage Monument, and crying out for any attention at all, and the way people's eyes used to slide right over him. "Something has to change," he offered quietly. "And you are the only thing that you can control."

Gaara nodded and accepted this as his gospel truth. He was the one in control.

"I'm ready to go in, now."

* * *

**3rd of March, 66 f.K.**

"Hey," Sasuke greeted as he sat down next to Naruto at Ichiraku's ramen stand. He lifted a hand at the old man to order his usual, and then glanced over at where his Hokage was plowing through his third bowl.

"Mmm," Naruto responded, mouth full.

Sasuke huffed. He sat in silence until Ayame brought him his own bowl, and then paused with his chopsticks dipped in the noodles.

"You gonna do anything about today?"

Naruto slurped noisily, but didn't go back for another bite straight away. He looked into the middle distance thoughtfully. "Yeah, but I don't know what yet. I don't think the old man would like it if I made a whole day just for him."

"He is dead." Sasuke pointed out. Sometimes he thought that Naruto had too much consideration for the dead; they couldn't care about nearly as much as he thought they did.

"Yeah, but I gotta honor the spirit of him, ya know?"

"Maybe invest in some better grammar if you want to honor him." Sasuke suggested, and ducked the head-slap Naruto tried for. He decided to retaliate later, when he wasn't in the middle of eating a hot bowl of noodles.

Teuchi appeared in front of them, moving at a speed to make a ninja proud. "You boys aren't going to start brawling again, are you? Only I don't want to have to wait around while you fix up my stall again."

Naruto gave him a reassuring grin. "No, uncle, we won't be fighting near your stall again. I couldn't go without your ramen for so long again! I think this stuff is about half the reason I decided to come back and be Hokage."

Teuchi laughed at this obvious flattery, and returned to his other customers. Sasuke and Naruto fell back to eating contentedly.

Naruto's head jerked up. "There's people gathering at the Memorial Stone." he said distantly, focusing on the memories of a recently popped clone. "They're carrying paper lanterns."

When they arrived at the Stone, Sasuke and Naruto found a small crowd of around fifteen ninja; the number kept shifting, as people came and left. Most showed up with a paper lantern - yellow or white predominantly, with a few other colors. The lanterns started off hanging from the branches of the huge tree in front of the Stone, but these soon became too laden. The sea of lights began to spread out over the ground.

It was evening, and the sun was falling. The stars had come out early, and fallen here to the earth.

But for the susurrus of leaves, it was silent.

_The son came first_ , Kakashi signed to Naruto and Sasuke. He meant Asuma; they didn't know his name-sign. _He brought the first light. The others came soon after._

Naruto stayed and watched the lanterns go out one by one, until Sakura came to put a hand on his shoulder and lead him home. He reached up and felt the tears on his face, though he didn't remember his eyes burning with them.

"Do you ever think what it would have been like if he hadn't died?" Naruto asked her. Behind him, he knew that Sasuke and Kakashi were both listening.

"It's cold to say it, but we'd probably be worse off."

Sakura looked up; it seemed the stars were still up there after all. She gave them a sad smile.

"There was a rot in this village, caused by the one-eyed man. Even now, I can feel the parts that are healing over in his absence. He was an infection. The Third was blind to it, or he couldn't do anything about it; either way, that man was going to be a blight on us. At least when he stepped out of the shadows he made himself a clear target, and now we can track down all the evil he wrought and try to undo it."

She paused, and searched for an answer in each of their faces; Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi, all regarding her. Listening. They never did ignore her or dismiss her anymore.

She murmured, "It makes me a traitor at heart, but if I were given the choice, I'd let him die again."

Naruto reached out and took her hand.

* * *

**21st of March, 66 f.K.**

"Kazekage!" Naruto hopped up, waving one hand in the air to draw attention to himself. It wasn't strictly necessary; he was already sitting on top of Konoha's gatehouse, basking in the early morning sun.

Temari shaded her eyes with one hand and squinted up. A small smile touched the corners of her mouth. "Good morning, Hokage Naruto."

Naruto slid down the sloped roof and landed in front of them, causing Temari's escort ninja to shuffle nervously. He stood straight, grinning, and looked back up at the roof. "Well, come on down Gaara!"

Temari almost didn't recognize her brother. He was dressed in the Leaf way, less of Sand's flowing clothes and more dark colors; she hadn't sent him off with much in the way of possessions, so Konoha had had to provide that. Given a photograph, she would have said that nothing had changed about him otherwise.

She would have been wrong. He no longer carried a constant air of being two steps from murder. "Brother." she greeted, cautiously hopeful.

Gaara nodded back. Naruto nudged him and tipped his head pointedly. Gaara's eye twitched, and he muttered, "Good morning, sister. How have you been?"

Naruto looked up at Temari's blatant surprise. He chirped, "We've been working on being polite! Gaara's pretty much like Sasuke, but Sasuke is terminally repressed by choice instead of situation, so I still have hope for Gaara."

"...Sasuke?" Temari ventured, settling on the least-important part of that sentence. Naruto had been working on her brother. Gaara had just asked her how she had been.

"Yeah, my other teammate. You'll meet him sometime later, he just left on a mission today. Now, we gotta get you guys all checked into the records and your visitor's visas, and then I can show you around the village!"

Naruto chattered their way through a whirlwind of taking down the name and rank of all four of Temari's guards, drawing each of them into his conversation in turn. Temari knew that this was normal - that any visiting Kage would be met and escorted through another ninja village - but at the same time she was grateful to Naruto for being there in person. He eased the way with Gaara, at least.

"Alright! First stop is my favorite restaurant for some early lunch, and I hope you guys are all hungry because Teuchi makes the absolute best ramen ever, anywhere, and I would know." Naruto reached out without looking and draped one arm fully over Gaara's shoulders, nearly hanging off of him.

All five of the Sand ninja froze in place.

Temari remembered vividly the last time she'd seen someone touch Gaara. It had been an utter accident, but the woman still died inside a sand coffin.

But Gaara bore up under the contact stoically, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "You eat too much ramen," he commented to Naruto. His eyes flicked to Temari, belying this apparent nonchalance.

"Shukaku... is truly under your control?" she asked, unable to keep the question behind her teeth any longer.

Gaara nodded slowly, dropping his gaze to the ground and then back up at her, defiantly. "He was never out of it. I just didn't have much reason not to do as he said."

"Will you come home after the Chuunin Exams?" She dreaded the answer; either way, she would have new problems to face.

Gaara hesitated, turning his head to Naruto. The Hokage was gazing back with uncharacteristic solemnity.

Naruto shrugged. "You can stay, but I never figured you as running away from a fight."

"I'll come home," Gaara declared. "We don't run away from anything."

* * *

**24th of March, 66 f.K.**

Hanabi passed by the genjutsu illusion with confidence in her superior skills; the two other teams who had gotten caught by the illusion didn't even seem to notice as hers swanned by at full pace.

She did have to pause at the end of the hall. The stairway was gone.

Hanabi looked around, confusion growing. She hadn't been to this part of the Hokage Tower before, but she did know the layout, and the layout said that there should be doors leading to a stairwell here. These would take her to the third floor, and the true examination room.

There was no genjutsu in play: Hanabi activated her Byakugan to make sure. There was just this dead end.

She looked back to her team, wordlessly asking them for input. Sai stared blankly back at her, as emotionless as always. Naoka Inuzuka was frowning slightly, nostrils flared.

"I smell paint," she said in an undertone, and inhaled softly again. "They've disguised it well, but this wall didn't used to be here."

Hanabi grinned; if they were putting walls in front of her, they'd better be prepared for her to break them. She kicked out, chakra infused in the motion to protect her heel, and felt the shockwave rebound as the force of the whole blow was deflected back to her. She fell onto her back, the wind knocked out of her.

When she got herself together enough to focus on the wall again, Sai was holding open a hidden door for Naoka at the same time as he was staring accusingly down at Hanabi.

"Danzo's training broke your subtlety." Sai told her, throwing Hanabi's own father's words in her face. "You didn't used to attack every problem without thinking."

Hanabi snarled at him and kicked his ankle out so he slanted to one side before he regained his balance. "You're mimicking other people again, Sai," she mocked, trying to hide her humiliation. "Try thinking of your own words for once."

* * *

The first test was held in a room the full size of the Tower, opening straight out of the stairwell. There was a chalkboard at the front, directly across from the stairs at the back, and it was filled with rows of desks and chairs.

It was also filled with other genin, talking softly amongst themselves in an undertone, watching their competition warily.

Hanabi's team gravitated naturally towards the other Konoha genin teams. She wasn't familiar with many of them, despite half having been in her class, but apparently Naoka knew a few. Hanabi and Sai hung on to the edge of the group, and focused on the other teams.

"They're going to be a problem," Hanabi muttered, giving a barely perceptible nod to the 'genin' team sent by Hidden Sound. They were pretty blatantly already Chuunin level, and planted here to give the newest village a good showing. She frowned. "If they're going to be so obvious about it, it's only going to hurt them. The lords will be able to tell they're not really genin."

Sai nodded shortly, and called her attention to another team from Stone. "Those are the opposite problem."

The Stone team couldn't be more than a few months out of their Academy. Hanabi was a child, and even she would call those genin children. They were nearly quaking in their sandals.

They were also the only team from Stone.

"That's not right." Hanabi determined. "Why would Stone make such a bad showing? Where are their other teams?"

Sai shrugged. "We are their enemies, and we did decimate their forces in the last Shinobi War. Perhaps they don't want to send their genin to the village of the Yellow Flash."

Hanabi didn't have time to respond to that: a swirl of leaves and massive pulse of chakra appeared at the board in the front of the room, and settled into a figure wearing a long white coat with red flames, ninja arm-guards, and the Hokage hat.

The Hokage's head tilted up, revealing a grinning face marked with whisker-like scars. Hanabi was close enough to the Stone genin to hear a sharp intake of breath and the fearful murmur, "Yellow Flash!"

"Yo! Welcome to the first test of the Chuunin Exams; I'm your proctor and the Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki! Everybody take your seats - teams can't sit near each other, so you there split up. Hey, I know you guys, I watched you come into my village together, separate. Good! Now, we're gonna get down to business.

"This first test is a written exam. I know, sucks, right? But you gotta know how to write to be a ninja, or so I'm told. Other me here - " A clone burst into being on command, with no hand signs needed. Hanabi had heard that the Hokage had mastery of that skill, but seeing it was another thing. " - Will hand you all your tests. You only have to answer five of the nine questions to pass. But before you take it! I gotta warn you guys."

Naruto paused, allowing the tension to build. He grinned evilly. "If you fail this test, you and your whole team will never again take the Chuunin Exams. Banned for life." At the sudden and loud protests of the genin, he held up a hand and continued, "Well, we gotta cut down on the numbers somehow. Some people just aren't meant to make chuunin. So leave now, or pray to the dark god that you pass, because if you don't...."

For a long moment, no one stood. The tension broke when one of the ninja from Cloud stood, head tilted down to hide his face, and walked out the door. His teammates, white-faced and just as silent, followed.

More genin teams filtered out; Hanabi watched the weak-willed, the unsure, and felt her contempt grow. They didn't have confidence in themselves or their teammates.

Roughly a third of the teams dropped out, leaving only sixty genin in the room. Hanabi checked with a quick Byakugan sweep: the team from Sound was still here, of course, but so was the team from Stone. They must be braver than she had thought. There were seven other Konoha teams left, as well.

"Good." Naruto said quietly. "You pass."

Hanabi's head jerked up. She stared at him.

"Ninja who aren't willing to risk it all for the mission do not advance above genin rank." Naruto continued, still in that severe undertone. "They did not have the confidence in themselves that they will need to pass the rest of this Exam. This was the only fake-out test; the other two will be very real, I assure you. Tomorrow morning, you are all to report to Training Ground Forty-Four, where you will begin the second test."

He made to leave, and stopped with his hands in the seal for the Body Flicker technique. "Oh, and don't tell the others about the test. If they pass this one next time, and die in the second, that will be on your head."

* * *

**30th of March, 66 f.K.**

The Hokage's Box in the stadium had a supreme view of the whole arena. The Hokage's own chair was at the back but centered, combining a bit of security with the seat of power. Next to him, the Kazekage leaned back and traded speculations with her escorting jounin; in front, the lords of the lands Wind, Fire, Earth, and Lightning were arrayed with their own samurai escorts and ninja guards from their hidden villages, creating a dull chatter of conversation. The lords not present had sent keen-eyed representatives in their stead, to keep an eye on the Exams.

Naruto sat back, pleased with his results. Danzo had closed Konoha's borders and cut out all non-vital communication with the outside world, even to the Lord of Fire. It had taken a lot of effort and tossing message birds back and forth to bring them to this point, but it was worth it to tell the world that Konoha wasn't going to be an isolated state again.

He caught the murmured conversation from the group next to him, who had gathered around the Lord of Earth Country's party. It seemed Earth and Lightning were having a disagreement about something.

"Did I see correctly that none of Stone's teams made it into the Tournament rounds?" Yosuke Akimito was a man in his late fifties, wearing the broad hat of a lord. His tone was idle, but the words were barbed.

The Lord of Earth Country grunted in response, shooting a sharp-eyed look at Akimito. Naruto forgot his name until Sakura leaned down to mutter in his ear, "Kenji Yamauchi."

"The Village Hidden in Stones is busy with mission workload; they have graduated most of their genin in the last Exams."

Naruto's head tilted as he listened to that. The lords didn't have to defend their own hidden villages, and in fact often had a kind of animosity with them. Earth's lord must trust his ninja village very much, or be very reliant upon them, if he was actively speaking up for them.

The bell was struck, the first ring hushing the dull roar of the stadium's crowd and the second bringing full silence. The third rang out and faded slowly.

"First match: Hanabi Hyuuga versus Ishikawa of Sand!"

Hanabi dropped into the ring straight out of the participant's box, landing in an easy crouch to a round of cheering from the spectators. Ishikawa made his appearance from the stairs, strolling out with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, how come your people never have family names?" Naruto asked, turning to Temari.

She shrugged. "Mist kills its bloodlines and clans, Leaf celebrates and segregates them, and Sand got rid of that classification altogether. Sand shinobi give up their names when they take up the headband; it's how we deal with the issue of clans."

"Does it work?" Naruto asked, interested.

Temari rocked her hand from side to side and grimaced. "Not really," she admitted. "But it was a nice thought."

* * *

Hanabi faced her opponent, blanking out the chuunin proctor standing between them.

_He's Sand, they favor teams of heavy-hitters with support-skilled ninja. He doesn't look big enough to be a heavy, unless he's got ninjutsu skills, that stance isn't taijutsu, he has a sword - he's drawing the sword -_

Hanabi's train of thought cut off, muted by the battle-sense. Ishikawa had drawn his sword as the proctor's arm fell. The match began; the Sand ninja settled into a ready stance and waited.

Hanabi put her hands up in her family's taijutsu style, and began to circle him. The sun was to her right, so she would either reach that point where it was in his eyes and attack him at the disadvantage, or he would attack her first to prevent that.

He was a Sand ninja; he was used to the powerful sun. She attacked first.

Sunlight glared off the blade in his hand as he swept it around, forcing her to duck the arc or lose her hand. Hanabi pushed through with her momentum, aiming for his feet - he didn't get the sword around in time, he couldn't.

He was forced to strike at her with his elbows, which were sharp but hit nothing vital and with only half the force that she put into a jab at his knee.

That crumpled, leaving him only half-supported. Hanabi realized she'd spent far too much time already inside his guard, too close, he was rallying and she had to get out. She stepped lightly to the side, never move the way they expect you to, and fairly danced out of reach. She went back to circling, hands up, as the Sand ninja panted and tried not to favor his knee too badly.

He breathed deeper, she tensed for the attack, and he slashed his sword at the empty air in front of himself.

_There's nothing there..._ Hanabi thought distantly, until the ozone scent of wind chakra hit her at about the same time the wind blade did. _He has ranged attacks with that!_

Ishikawa wasn't taking his advantage lightly: he struck out again and again, giving Hanabi no time to recover, to escape. She just barely dodged each strike, and those only with the help of her superior eyes. _He's slow, he's slow on that knee, use that!_

Hanabi dropped her defensive stance and charged.

_"You didn't used to attack every problem without thinking."_

_Shut up, Sai, I know what I'm doing._

Ishikawa was older, and Hanabi looked like a young girl still. He was wary of her skill, but he believed her to have the impatience and foolishness of youth. He expected her to charge, he wanted it. He was prepared to meet her.

Hanabi did not meet him.

She dashed past his abrupt blocking posture, where he was ready to take the full force of whatever she tried to throw at him. She caught his gaze out of the corner of his wide eyes, shock written all over him. Hanabi smirked.

The rest of the fight was nearly predetermined. Hanabi knew that he would try to keep her at distance, and she knew that he would fail, because he wasn't strong enough. The wind attacks drained him, and with those alone he couldn't finish her off. It would be a battle of attrition, and she would win.

But she couldn't afford to waste that kind of energy on her very first match.

Hanabi got Ishikawa's sword away from him, and went to begin closing up his chakra points. Before she got to even one, the Sand ninja had thrown up both his hands and called his surrender.

"Sorry," he said to her, "But I've heard it hurts like a bitch when the tenketsu start opening up again, and I don't wanna deal with that."

Hanabi huffed, but stuck her hand out to shake anyway. "Coward," she muttered, "Good fight though. The wind attack was a surprise at first."

"Clear the field for the next match, please," the exam proctor called, and Hanabi returned to the participants' box. Ishikawa left for the spectators' section, where his sensei would be waiting.

Naruto turned to Temari, a proud smile on his face. "Good match, bad matchup," he suggested.

She nodded in return, giving a wistful little sigh. "Ishikawa made a good showing, but Konoha's Byakugan trumps many ninja skills."

In front of them, the lord of the Land of Lightning shifted uncomfortably. He was probably remembering that his hidden village had attempted to acquire the bloodline through the usual ninja way, and failed.

* * *

**31st of March, 66 f.K.**

The final match of the Chuunin Exams came down to one of the Sound ninja and Hanabi Hyuuga, directly after Hanabi had finished off an exhausting battle with her teammate, Sai.

"Unlucky," Temari commented. "And bad form on Sound's part to send this guy. Is anyone supposed to believe he's still genin ranked? They're still a new village, they can't afford to make that kind of mistake."

Naruto frowned and leaned forward in his seat, brow furrowed. "You're right," he murmured. "They should know better, but they did it anyway...."

They sent strong teams to Konoha's Exams, unreasonably strong. They can't be trying to blend in, but what other purpose could they have?

Sakura's hand landed on his shoulder as Naruto understood. He shot to his feet. "Lords and ladies, I'm gonna have to ask you all to stay in this box. Gaara, protect them. Temari, you aren't under my command but if you can lend a hand, that'd be great."

Temari stood fluidly, confusion written on her face. Down in the arena, the exam proctor called a start to the match. The lords weren't paying attention to it, too focused on Naruto. "What's going on?" she asked, eyes flicking around to search for enemies.

Naruto gave her his best fox-grin, with all his teeth. In the distance, Konoha's battle alarm began to ring.

"Hidden Sound is breaking the Exam truce."


	3. Fire Overhaul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Orochimaru didn't get to invade three years ago when Danzo called off the Chuunin Exams in the wake of the Third Hokage's death, so he's taking his chances now.

**31st of March, 66 f.K.**

In the ring, Hanabi's first clue that something was wrong was when her opponent cast a genjutsu.

"You can't seriously think that will work on me," she taunted, activating her Byakugan.

The Sound ninja shrugged carelessly and replied, "It wasn't for you."

The stadium began to fall silent. The spectators were falling asleep under the soft white feathers drifting out of the sky.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hanabi demanded. Why put them to sleep? Did he not want to fight?

Sai appeared from the tunnel that lead to the infirmary, one hand still clutching the broken nose she'd given him. "Hanabi! We're under attack!"

The nerve-grating off-tempo jangle of the assault alarm bells sounded, unnaturally loud in the silence. The Sound ninja in front of Hanabi grinned.

"We're going to destroy your pathetic little village," he declared, "And I'll start with you!"

_This guy's above chuunin level_ , Hanabi thought to herself as she went into a spin to deflect the mass of weapons heading at her. She couldn't stop spinning because he was still out there, waiting for the opening. _Sai, make yourself useful!_

Sai had had his broken arm taken care of by Tsunade, but he'd rushed out before she could do anything about his nose. He sent ink creatures at the Sound ninja, distracting him long enough for Hanabi to get away, and she darted back to his side.

"Distract him, don't let him get away, and if he's got friends keep them off of me."

Sai nodded, concentrating on another drawing.

"Good." Hanabi dove back in, where the Sound ninja was finishing off a black stylized lion.

The Gentle Fist was anything but, and Hanabi had not yet gotten the chance to complete the whole pattern on a ninja in this tournament. The Sound ninja put up a valiant defense, knowing that the first strike would be followed by too many more to block, but inky visions danced in the corner of his eyes and reached for his legs, his arms. He had to keep moving, or be caught and die.

Hanabi saw it when a black serpent flashed the exploding tag under its jaw at her. She leaped back, opening a distance, and the snake closed in. The explosion barely caught the Sound ninja, but the concussion of the blast knocked him off balance. Hanabi struck.

She considered killing him after, when he was an unconscious pile in the dirt, but decided that he could be interrogated after this attack was over. She tied him up with ninja wire and gave him to Sai for sealing away.

"Alright," Hanabi said, rubbing her hands together. "Let's go figure out what's going on."

* * *

Konoha's invasion plans were fairly similar to most ninja villages. Mobilize all active- and off-duty ninja of all ranks to engage the invaders while the civilians went through the evacuation process that was practiced full-scale twice a year. Whatever happened after that, at least the civilians were safe.

Naruto hadn't changed that plan at all, but he'd added some things.

"I need space," he muttered, and jumped out the back of the Hokage's box in the stadium. Behind it there was a large cleared area before the forest of Fire Country began to take over again. Temari followed, and paused there, watching to see what he would do.

Naruto put his hands together in the seal; he'd mastered the technique, but he didn't usually perform it on a scale like this either. _Gonna need to borrow some chakra from you, Kurama._

The fox pushed it forward gladly, sending him a feeling of excited blood-lust instead of words. Battle was upon them again, finally!

Naruto pushed chakra into the Shadow Clone technique, and kept pushing. Legions appeared out of smoke around him, spreading like ripples from the tree line to the stadium wall and spreading out in a curve around the stadium out of sight. Thousands.

Done, Naruto groaned and bent over for a moment to catch his breath. The clones disappeared without waiting for orders, knowing the plan. "I'm gonna regret that later," he gasped.

"What did you do?" Temari asked, awed. She had heard but she hadn't really believed; the Hokage was an army.

Naruto took a fortifying breath and stood up straight again. "They'll help defend against the invaders. Come on, let's go find the Master of Sound. He's bound to be around here somewhere."

* * *

"What the fuck," Keigo complained as he finally landed a hit on the Konoha ninja, only to find that it had been yet another shadow clone the whole time. "Do they teach this jutsu in their Academy? Why is everyone clones?"

"Stop whining and stay with your snake!" his captain snarled, passing by in pursuit of another ninja who was probably also a shadow clone.

Keigo sighed dramatically and looked for his assigned snake. He didn't like the thing; it had threatened to eat him the moment Orochimaru turned his back.

It was currently and happily eating as many of the enemy ninja as it could. This was made easier by the way they were single-mindedly jumping straight into its mouth.

Something was wrong there, Keigo was sure, and the snake was too stupid to notice. "Hey! Stop that!"

The snake swallowed the last ninja, making about nine in its bulging throat. "I'm not sharing!" it hissed.

Keigo stopped and took a step back. The bulge in the snake's throat was writhing oddly.

"That feels - " the snake said, and then exploded. Keigo didn't have much time to think more than _gross_ , because the one real and solid ninja in this part of the village had just appeared behind him and driven a kunai through his spinal cord.

* * *

Objectively, Isshin could see the strategy behind the massive amount of shadow clones apparently flooding the village. It was just stupidly annoying to try for three solid minutes to hit an elusive bastard, and then find out that he popped on the first strike.

They were an excellent distraction, as the Sound ninja couldn't just ignore anyone with a Konoha headband, but there had to be a trade-off. Surely the ninja were drained from creating so many clones; they couldn't be fighting in top shape, which meant that all they had to do was find any of the real ones and it would be easily to eliminate him or her.

The problem was, Isshin was becoming less sure that the Leaf ninja had created these shadow clones themselves.

He stopped on the side of a building, peering into the street, to see a chuunin of the Leaf leading a group of civilians to the Hokage Mountain. The chuunin had also stopped, to demand of another ninja who looked exactly like him what the hell he was doing.

"Who are you?" the first one asked.

"Oh, sorry, I never got the message out. There's clones all over the village who are transformed into copies of Leaf ninja to serve as a distraction."

"And you are?"

There was no verbal response, and the clone's back was turned to Isshin, so whatever he did to make the chuunin's face break into a vicious grin Isshin couldn't see it.

"Give 'em hell, sir. But what happens when they start disguising themselves as Leaf ninja too?"

The clone shrugged. "Do you not know enough about your comrades to tell them apart from strangers? Use a dispelling technique - it won't work on us, but it should on them."

Troubling, as Isshin had already transformed himself into the body of a ninja he'd killed a few minutes ago. But as long as he could get away undetected - 

An undefinable pressure landed on Isshin's shoulders, crushing the air out of his lungs. His heartbeat thundered loudly in his ears, and he felt fear as he had never known it before. The clone on the ground turned slowly and tilted its head up to him, revealing red slit-pupiled eyes.

"Take them to safety, Eiki." It suggested, pinning Isshin further with that demonic gaze. Darkness crackled at the edge of his vision; he hadn't blinked or taken a breath in nearly a minute. "I'll handle things here."

* * *

This was it, their best and only chance. Excitement rose in Tayuya, making her hands nearly tremble on her flute. Next to her, Jirobo grumbled something unintelligible and shifted slightly.

Their target emerged from the ANBU ready-station, and Tayuya struck.

The music made him pause, a sudden lethargy taking over his limbs. Jirobo lumbered out and right up to him - this was so easy!

Too easy.

Sasuke Uchiha's eyes went red behind that grinning fox mask, and he snapped out of the trance. He turned those glaring red eyes not on Jirobo, but straight to where Tayuya was hiding.

Panicking just a little, Tayuya brought out all three of her Doki and began playing again.

Sasuke didn't have time to try to get to Tayuya any more; he was far too busy dodging every strike from Jirobo and the three Doki, as though he somehow knew already that if they landed even one hit it would count. Tayuya played faster, urging her minions to move quicker, to box him in between the buildings and the streets - if he fled, she wasn't sure they could catch him.

It was aggravating how fluidly the man moved, as though dodging took no effort. He was mocking her!

Tayuya stopped playing just long enough to shout, "Hold still and fight us, you coward!"

Uchiha did stop and hold still. Standing on top of one of her Doki, he reached up a hand to his own face and pushed the mask aside. His middle finger pulled down his lower eyelid, and he stuck his tongue out.

Tayuya and Jirobo both stopped and stared. The Doki reached up to knock Uchiha down, and he popped into smoke.

"It was a goddamn clone?!" Tayuya demanded. "We've been watching him for two days! When did he have time to make a clone?"

"Well, I was on a mission for the last ten days or so," said a voice from behind her. "And apparently when I leave Naruto alone it all goes to shit, so I should have known better."

Shit, Tayuya thought, rolling forward to try to dodge whatever Uchiha was going to throw at her. Unfortunately, this wasn't the sort of jutsu that could be dodged easily. She finished the roll flat on her back, Uchiha's hand in her chest and covered in gore.

"Ew," Tayuya tried to say, but it came out more of a wet cough. Her body had gone quiet.

Uchiha looked away from her, which was no great loss; she wasn't a threat to anyone when her heart wasn't beating. Jirobo was charging, fury written across his face, his skin turning reddish and... warty.

"Naruto has the weirdest enemies," Sasuke muttered, conveniently forgetting that these two had been after him specifically.

He blew a stream of fire at the Sound ninja and jumped out of the path of his charge, neatly avoiding him. Jirobo turned and picked up a chunk of the ground to throw at Sasuke.

_I hate earth jutsu users,_ Sasuke thought to himself resignedly, and settled into the fight.

Jirobo countered his fire with earth walls or actual walls from the buildings around them, depending on which was more handy. He continued to throw whatever he could pick up, and even tried a charge again when Sasuke was a little tied up trying to get out from under half of a house. Sasuke kept at it with the fire techniques, though he could feel them draining his reserves nearly as fast as whatever drain Jirobo had.

On top of already using chidori on the girl with the flute. At least that had gotten rid of the massive beasts under her control.

Eventually, Sasuke decided that this strange monster didn't have any other tricks he was keeping hidden. He was a heavy-hitter ninja whose supporting teammates had been eliminated; any sufficiently fast and powerful technique would take him down, and Sasuke happened to specialize in one such jutsu.

Jirobo's first thought upon hearing the sound of many birds chirping was that the Konoha Aviary was nowhere near here. His second was _where did Uchiha go?_ His third was _oh shit_.

Sasuke saw the Sound ninja's arms go up in a defensive pose in slow motion, and a full second before they actually did. He stepped up, vaulted off the huge ninja's bent knee, and flipped straight over his head. He drove the second chidori through the thing's back, kicking up yet more blood and flesh onto his ANBU uniform.

That was exhausting, and there was still an invasion to deal with. Sasuke took a couple minutes laying on his back next to the dead guy, breathing heavily and assessing his chakra reserves. He decided to stop by wherever Naruto was fooling around for an infusion.

* * *

"It isn't safe to be up here," Gaara intoned, looking out over the stadium from their high angle. Most of the stadium had thrown off the genjutsu, and were now spreading into the village to their assigned battle stations. This box was great for viewing the stadium below, but had no great security and was raised too far off the ground to boot. Those massive snakes could easily aim right for the support beams and bring the whole thing toppling down.

"Follow me."

The Wind Lord was squinting at him suspiciously. "Weren't you the last Kazekage's youngest son?"

Gaara paused. "Temari is my sister, yes."

The man's eyes went wide, and he clutched his wife's arm and drew her behind him. "Then you're - "

"Responsible for keeping all of you alive," Gaara interjected before the lord could get hysterical about it. "And capable of doing so, if you do as I say."

Gaara turned and led the way out the door and down the stairs, keeping his ears tuned for the footsteps behind him. They followed, but one of the other lords leaned into the Lord of Wind Country and asked a question, and Gaara caught the word 'jinchuuriki'.

But they followed him.

_We have to protect them,_ he thought at Shukaku.

The raccoon-dog snorted derisively and said, _They're weak, not even ninja. Why bother? Someone else will take their places even if they die._

_If we can protect them, then we can protect our village, too. Naruto would say that you can't just pick and choose who's worth saving among the innocent, not if there's a way to save them all._

_Yeah, whatever. It's not like it'll be hard; those snakes look pretty weak to me, and I'll kill any enemy who tries to lay a hand on us or our little humans!_

Gaara decided that the hospital clinic underneath the stadium for the Exam contestants would be defensible enough, and it was a short walk. He looked into the little room with a sand eye before he turned the corner, and found two medics standing protectively over their charges while four Sound ninja advanced on them.

"Just turn them over. We'll tie you up and leave you alive; you don't need to fight for them, half of them aren't even from your village!" One of the Oto ninja said.

Gaara's sand began to slide out of his gourd and trickle along the ground quietly towards them. The one who had spoken stepped forward threateningly, brandishing a long sword. Gaara's sand darted for him at the same time as a shadow jumped from the corner near the door, where Gaara hadn't seen, and the sand hadn't even covered more than the man's shins before the genin girl had her kunai buried deep in his throat.

She rode his body to the ground and jumped off straight at another Sound ninja. The medics both sent a spray of senbon out, but otherwise didn't leave their charges. Most of the senbon landed, but whatever poison they were coated in wasn't fast-acting enough to slow the other three ninja.

The girl - from the last match, her name was Hanabi, Gaara remembered - had attacked another Sound ninja with a flurry of her Clan's taijutsu, making short work of his defenses. There was another taking aim at her back with some sort of apparatus that was humming. Gaara's sand was faster, surging up his legs and torso and crushing the body within. Shukaku sighed happily over the blood.

The final Oto-nin stumbled oddly and made a choking noise, clutching at his throat. A thin red line appeared there as he tipped forward and the garrote of ninja wire cut straight through the soft tissues in his neck, revealing a pale boy in a midriff-baring shirt.

Hanabi looked behind her for another enemy, and then looked around when she saw only a small red stain and retreating sand. She saw Gaara standing in the doorway. "Thanks, but we didn't need help."

Gaara tilted his head. "Naruto says I should try to be helpful whenever I can."

She frowned at him, until understanding dawned. "Oh, you're that weirdo the Hokage's been fostering. It's like there's two of you now, Sai."

Sai looked Gaara up and down, considering. "I think I am much more socially adapted, Hanabi."

"Yeah, you're a real metric for that kind of thing," she muttered. "Anyway, that's the stadium cleared out. Want to come with us while we go clean out the village?"

Gaara looked behind him at the array of lords, ladies, and assorted aides. They grouped tight, and several were very pale and sick-looking. He realized that one of them had vomited, although he wasn't sure why.

"No, Naruto has asked me to protect these people. I wish you luck."

"Y'know, I didn't really want two of Sai anyway," Hanabi said as she slid out the door past him. "Come on, loser!"

Sai stepped out after her, giving Gaara an empty smile as he did. "Good luck to you, too."

"We're not going in there!" one of the lords insisted after Hanabi was gone, pointing into the hospital room. The medics had been at work, clearing away the bodies into a neat pile in the corner where they wouldn't interfere with tending patients.

Gaara stared at him blankly. "Why not?"

"There's dead bodies in there!"

One of the medics approached Gaara, eying him a bit nervously. "Sir, there's another empty room one door down. That one should serve well."

Gaara nodded his thanks and led his important entourage further down the hall.

* * *

This invasion was not going to plan.

Orochimaru summoned Manda, king of all snakes, just outside the walls and stood on the snake's head to survey Konoha. There was a pleasing amount of disarray, chaos, and fighting going on in the streets, but there were also a displeasing amount of Konoha ninja. About a thousand extra, to be precise. And they were popping into puffs of smoke and explosions all over the place.

"There you are!" A voice called from down near Manda's tail. "What do you think you're doing?"

Orochimaru's armed uncrossed involuntarily as he turned to see who sounded like a scolding mother. It was the brat in the Hokage hat, son of the favored son.

Also container of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Orochimaru remembered dimly as he watched the boy grow a chakra avatar as large as Manda. It was shaped like the fox itself, and the aura was so familiar. The child had lost control over its demon!

Orochimaru grinned. This wasn't an Uchiha body, but it wasn't nothing, either.

He opened his mouth to order Manda to attack, but the fox avatar opened its first. Red power coalesced there in the blink of an eye, and there was no space and no time to dodge - there was only that single red spot in the world.

Manda burst. His lynchpin, his strongest summon, gone in the blink of an eye.

Orochimaru landed on his feet heavily, stumbling slightly. The fox was shrinking already, as though spent, and the boy in its head was touching down to the ground in front of Orochimaru. He still glowed orange-red with power, with slit-pupiled orange eyes and a blankly curious expression on his face.

"Who're you?" he asked.

"Orochimaru, of the Three Sage Ninja!" Orochimaru snapped. "You might know my old teammates, Jiraiya and Tsunade?"

The container held up a hand and started ticking fingers off. "Snake-y features, yep. Super pale skin, got that. Greasy-lookin' black hair, check. Oh! Summons snakes, that's a definite. Yep, you fit the description pretty well."

Orochimaru stood there, flummoxed for a long moment. Battle he was used to; even trash-talk, which had never gotten to him. This was... something else. _Sheer disrespect_ and from an idiot brat put in the Hokage's seat by Orochimaru's misguided teammates; Konoha had truly fallen far.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you." Orochimaru growled.

Naruto jumped back from an assault of small snakes coming from Orochimaru's sleeves, and circled slightly as he summoned yet more clones. Together with these, he dove straight for the snake-like man.

Orochimaru tried to keep his eyes on the real one, but when he struck it it popped like any other clone - and two more formed in its place. He snarled and made a whip out of a snake, swinging it widely around himself, trying to clear the area. When the smoke dissipated, there were twice as many clones.

"You can't keep this up forever, and your clones can't touch me!" Orochimaru shouted, continuing to swing the whip. Still more clones, more smoke; visibility was falling ever lower.

"We don't gotta touch you," one of the clones mocked, and Orochimaru directed a flick of the snake's fangs at that one in case it was the original.

Another finished, "We just gotta keep you busy."

Orochimaru realized abruptly that he couldn't see farther than six paces around himself for all the smoke. It was also at that moment that the swirling cloud parted before a glowing red-eyed Naruto with a glowing white ball in his fist.

"Rasengan!" the boy declared, unreasonably happy as he drove it through Orochimaru's shoulder.

"That hurt, you brat!" Orochimaru jumped backwards, clearing some space between himself and the demon container. He took his severed arm with him, and managed to get it reattached before Naruto could catch up.

"Okay, so you can heal from that," the boy said, surprised. Orochimaru grinned and reached out, extending his arms and his neck both.

"There is much I can do that mortal men cannot," he hissed, and tried to bite.

That Naruto turned out to be an exploding clone.

Face melting, Orochimaru was forced to shed his skin to regenerate. His head swung around, looking for the irritating creature again, but Naruto appeared to have vanished.

"Up here!" Naruto shouted. Orochimaru looked up to see that Naruto had leaped into the air and bent double with the force of sending down a hail of small, spinning balls balanced on his chakra cloak's three tails.

Orochimaru dodged these, but found that Naruto had filled the gaps with wind blades. And his damn clones were still popping up here and there, making a nuisance of themselves by grabbing on and trying to slow him down. One of the little balls clipped his foot at the ankle and took it off.

Gritting his teeth, Orochimaru absconded with the limb to reattach it again. He summoned another snake, this one as large as a man, and sent it to where Naruto had landed after his jump. The creature didn't need to get close; its venom was acidic on skin contact, and would at the very least cause the annoying child some pain.

The venom shot would have landed true on the boy's face if it hadn't vaporized harmlessly against the heat of the chakra cloak.

Naruto put his hands together and summoned yet more clones. Orochimaru was quick to dispatch this lot the same as the last, but when the last one exploded into smoke the original had gotten away from him again.

"Psst! Down here!"

There was a face in the ground near Orochimaru's foot; reflexively, he shifted to stomp down on it.

"Actually I'm over here." Naruto said, holding a hurricane in his hands. He shoved this out, and it was fast but Orochimaru was faster. He curved his sinuous body around the angry-looking ball of wind chakra, and let his tongue taste the air. The boy was nearing exhaustion; there was no way he had another of those in him.

Orochimaru bared his teeth, ready to go in for the kill, but it struck him that Naruto didn't seem terribly worried.

"Rasen-boomerang!" The boy crowed, and Orochimaru was obliterated from the surface of the earth spine-first, as that curved white ball came back around.

Naruto stood around feeling good about himself for a moment, kicking a little at the piles of flesh on the ground to see if any of them felt like regenerating still. Evidently not.

"I absolutely hate that you created that, and that it worked." Sasuke said venomously, appearing next to Naruto.

"Hey, buddy, you're back! How was the mission?"

"Fruitless. How fares the invasion?"

Naruto concentrated on his recent memory, searching for popped clones. "Pretty much over. We've lost some ninja, there's substantial property damage from the snakes, and so far the count is at fourteen dead civilians." He turned back to the nearest piece of flesh and bone, which had a bit of teeth in it.

"Glad this fucker's dead," he spat. "No one invades my home, aside from me."

"Come on, I need some chakra and I'm sure Sakura needs help getting the village back in order. Are you a Hokage or what?"

Together, they started walking back into the village proper.

"Do I look like I got chakra to spare, bastard? I'm all tapped out, the refill station is out of business. Come back never."

"You've probably still got more than me, plus whatever clones haven't been popped yet to give you more. Share."

"I'm beginning to see why Kurama calls the Uchiha 'greedy bastards'."

Sasuke found the energy to attempt to push Naruto's face into the dirt.

* * *

**1st of April, 66 f.K.**

"How many dead?"

"Twenty-two civilians; their families are being compensated. Sixteen ninja; three genin - all of the same team, thank the dark god - six jounin, and seven chuunin. No one clan was hit harder than any others. Looks like it was a generalized attack."

"They wanted to destroy us." Sakura stated, drawing closer. "He's going to make it," she added, staring distantly at the body in the hospital bed.

Naruto snorted. "'Course he is. Take more than a measly invasion to kill our sensei, even if he did try to chidori his way through every goddamn snake he saw."

Sakura sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, moving one of Kakashi's ankles to make room. "I've just gotten the report from Jiraiya. Sound has a main base, but it seems that the whole village isn't much more than a cover for Orochimaru's sick experiments. He's got secret bases hidden all over the place; it'll take a lot of recon to find and eliminate them."

She noticed the look on Naruto's face and leaned toward him. "Naruto, we have to strike back. We can't just let this slide; it makes us look weak. _Especially_ with a new Hokage."

Naruto was still grimacing. "It's not so much the bases. My clones fought nearly every Oto-nin that set foot in Konoha. Most of them were his experiments. It just seems like piling bad turn on top of bad turn for them; I don't think they even wanted to invade. But you gotta be loyal to your leader, right?" He looked up and shot a sad, wry grin at them.

Sasuke reached out and punched him lightly in the shoulder to get Naruto's attention on him. "It's called euthanasia, dumbass. We'll put them out of their misery _and_ ours."

"Still, the fact that they're small and scattered bases means that we can probably get away with only one or two strike teams going after them, instead of launching a full-scale attack." Sakura said thoughtfully. "Which leaves us with enough manpower to fix up the village."

"Manpower we got in spades," Naruto reminded her, putting his hands briefly in the seal for shadow clones.

She smiled at him. "Yes, god forbid I forget that at any moment there can be a hundred Naruto Uzumakis running around me."

"Hey! The Uzumaki Barrage is a valid technique!"

"It's as ridiculous as your stupid Rasengan modification." Sasuke stated evenly.

"It's called the Rasen-boomerang," Naruto reminded him helpfully.

"I will not say its name."

"Sasuke and Naruto are fighting, I must still be alive." Kakashi groaned from a dry throat.

"Sensei!" Three voices exclaimed at once.

"Am I supposed to be resting? Healing? Why did they let you monsters in here? This can't be good for my health."

Naruto laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "'Let' is such a strong word for what really happened."

"Hey, did I get that spider-freak? Last thing I remember was making a chidori I probably should not have made."

"You got him all over main street, is what you did," Naruto replied. "They're still cleaning bits of him off of Ichiraku's ramen stall. The only reason I will forgive you is that you managed to not actually destroy Ichiraku."

* * *

"Come back and visit soon!" Naruto called to Gaara.

Gaara turned and waved one last time, a small smile fixed on his expression. Next to him, Temari had his other arm tucked into hers. It was getting closer to him than she truly felt comfortable with, but she understood putting on a show for the other ninja. Gaara had changed, she showed the jounin and genin who had come for Konoha's Exam. He let people touch him, and waved to friends as they left.

"Man, that's gonna be one hell of a time back in his village," Naruto commented to Sakura.

She looked up from her clipboard, where she had been trying to decide which ANBU team to send on this reconnaissance mission. "Hm? Oh, they can handle it; Gaara knows he's welcome back here, so if anything happens hopefully he'll head for us instead of slaughtering them all. Of course, it would only be what they deserve," she added with sudden viciousness.

"And anyway, that plot of land on the edge of Fire Country will really help them with growing their own food. Even if the Lord of Wind doesn't start giving them more funding - which he should, after what Gaara protected them from - they'll be able to support themselves a little better."

"Yeah... Wind Country's a little fucked up, you know?"

"Compared to Fire, they have fewer natural resources, so the Lord has to be more stingy with what he does have. Also, Leaf has always been on good terms with the Lord of Fire; it comes of never having tried to depose or assassinate him."

"That reminds me, what's the rumors coming out of the Land of Earth? Their lord said something strange during the Exams, I don't know if you caught it."

Sakura frowned thoughtfully. "Jiraiya hasn't passed me anything important... Actually, he hasn't passed me much of anything out of Earth in a while; not since they received word that the son of the Yellow Flash had risen to the Hokage seat. It seems like things have calmed down over there."

"Calm before the storm." Naruto muttered prophetically, and returned to the plans for rebuilding the village.

* * *

**2nd of April, 66 f.K.**

"I trust that this attack will not affect your ability to handle missions workload over-much?" Yoshiyuki Kaneko, Lord of the Land of Fire, asked Naruto as they strolled down Konoha's main street together.

Naruto was surveying the damage to his village; it was difficult to see through the ridiculous entourage of advisors and bodyguards the lord had insisted on. "Nah, reconstruction doesn't take very long when half your population can lift trees easily. We won't hurt for timber, at least."

Kaneko hummed noncommittally and stared hard at the street ahead. Naruto was reminded that the Fire Lord didn't seem to like him much. Probably had something to do with Naruto's chronic irreverence and disrespect. Regardless, Sakura had insisted that he pressure the lord for more money.

"But unless we want to be melting down kunai for nails, we're going to need to buy some iron. We'll be providing the protection for that shipment, but it still costs a lot. Would be great if we could get some extra funding from the capitol this year, or we might have to pull some of the long-term guard stationed there."

Kaneko's lip lifted in disdain. He knew exactly what kind of game Naruto was playing, and he didn't like that Naruto knew how to play it. "My advisors and I will review the annual budget when we return, and see if we can find something for your village."

Naruto pushed down his own dislike for this man. Kaneko was weak-willed scum, and without his precious advisors he'd never make any decisions at all, but he had some amount of perception. He'd picked up on Naruto's feelings towards him, and was never shy about broadcasting his opinion that Naruto was too young for the Hokage's hat.

"That would be great," Naruto replied, leaving off any honorific title. "Hey, you ever had Ichiraku ramen? I think they finally got all the bits of enemy ninja off of his shop." Naruto waved a hand at the ramen stall and started towards it.

Kaneko had gone very pale at the casual mention of gore. He'd been valiantly ignoring the bloodstains still littering the village shops and streets. "Ah, no, I am not hungry."

"Gaara kept you and the other lords nice and safe during the invasion?" Naruto prompted, wanting to get a better idea of what had happened in the one area of Konoha he hadn't had flooded with clones.

"Well enough. There was... rather more blood and killing than I like to have. How is it that you came to be fostering the Kazekage's brother, and Sand's jinchuuriki, without my knowing about it?"

Naruto turned a warning smile on the man. "Oh, you know, that's just the way it worked out. We had a lot of things in common, lots of things to talk about. Temari insisted we get the chance to talk more."

Kaneko hummed again, unwilling to be frightened away so easily. "Strange, because the Lord of Wind revealed to us that his village's jinchuuriki is rather infamous for being uncontrollably bloodthirsty. And yet you put him in the protection of myself and my wife, and other dignitaries."

"Well, people can change," Naruto's smile turned dangerously sharp. Kaneko felt the air grow a little heavy around him. "And I'd trust Gaara with my life and yours. He's a good ninja."

"A good ninja is not a good person," Kaneko muttered before he could stop himself. 

Naruto's smile dropped the pretense and revealed itself to be a snarl. "No, we are not. We are weapons that aim themselves. There's a reason your gods have turned away from shinobi, and you should remember that when you're making plans against us."

The Lord of Fire flinched minutely at the implication; Naruto watched with interest. He was no Sakura when it came to reading people, but that was unmistakably suspicious. Kaneko summoned as much frost to his voice as he could manage past the strike of fear in his heart. "Yes, it's not hard to remember what you all are. Child-killers in every sense of the word."

"You don't have to worry, lord," Naruto replied, suddenly all sweetness. What was Kaneko hiding? "Your children are always safe, and those are the only ones that matter, right?"

"I liked your father much better than you."

"What a shame that he died to seal the demon in me. D'you know who caused the attack that night - did the Third ever tell you?"

"The other one made mention of it once. Some cloaked figure - but aren't you all." He was avoiding something. He was trying to take Naruto's attention away from speaking about that ninja.

"And I'm sure you'd have no reason to know a better description of him than that."

Kaneko faltered mid-step. He played it off as thought it was only a trip, but he was in the middle of a ninja village and he knew that anyone could have seen it for a tell.

"So you have seen him," Naruto mused, watching Kaneko with all the false smiles gone. "I wonder how many of the other lords have, too."

Eyes darting around the open street, under a cheerful sunny sky, Kaneko murmured softly, "We do not speak of him."

"But you'll whisper about him," Naruto replied, just as low. "How many?"

Kaneko closed his eyes, wondering if a death-blow would come out of the shadows even as he said, "All of them."


	4. Mercy Ideal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suna is in trouble; there is no rest for the wicked, or even the marginally good shinobi.

**3rd of April, 66 f.K.**

It was a sunny day in Konoha two days later when the messenger burst into Naruto's office, message hawk still roosted and hooded on his wrist, holding up a single folded piece of paper.

"From Suna," he gasped, having sprinted there. The shinobi stationed in the Aviary didn't have much stamina, but they were the fastest.

The outside of the message was marked for 'most urgent' which explained why the ninja rushed it here. The inside held more dire news.

"Get my team." Naruto ordered the ANBU behind him, and made four clones. These dispatched themselves around the village through Hiraishin seals, alerting four different people that their presence was required immediately in the Hokage Tower.

Sakura was first to arrive, having been working inside the Tower. Naruto handed the message to her wordlessly, and continued to wait, arms crossed, foot tapping. He wanted to be away, but knew that rushing into this wasn't something a Hokage could just do.

Kakashi arrived with Sasuke, both rumpled from rebuilding efforts. Kakashi had a black smudge under his eye, and similar black soot on his fingertips where the shinobi gloves didn't cover them; Sasuke was somehow spotless.

Sakura handed Sasuke the note, still not speaking, and watched Naruto closely. Kakashi read it at the same time over Sasuke's shoulder. When they were done, they looked at Naruto as well.

Naruto stood statue-still, like if he started moving he wouldn't stop until he reached Suna.

Finally the other four arrived, one after the other: Tsunade, Shikaku, and Asuma through the door, while Jiraiya climbed in a window and landed heavily.

"What's going on?" he asked, reading the tension in the air. "Who died?"

"No one, yet." Naruto reached over his shoulder and took the note from Sasuke. He threw it down on his desk. "That's a message from Hidden Sand. Not two hours after they got back to their village, Iwa launched an attack. Temari says the only reason the attack didn't land while they were all out of the village was that Gaara carried everyone on his sand over the desert. Iwa has gathered their entire force, and are laying siege. Temari says she knows they will win."

Asuma's cigarette nearly dropped out of his mouth. "You can't lay siege to a desert city! Where are they even getting water from?"

Naruto shrugged. "It's a short message, it doesn't say. Stone wouldn't attack with that kind of disadvantage, anyway, so they must have solved it somehow."

"If she knows they'll win, she must have opened a line of negotiation. Does Iwa have demands?" This from Jiraiya, leaning in to pick up the note.

"Extermination." Kakashi said grimly, when Naruto did nothing but glare at the offending message. "Iwa and Suna have a long and documented history of conflict. Suna is weaker now than it has ever been before, but about to get much stronger. The sandstorm monster is gone from the desert, so that line of protection is broken, and it's pretty well-known that the Kazekage was coming to the Exams; increased good relations with Konoha means bad things for ninja of the Stone."

"They want to erase Suna from the map because they're afraid of Suna becoming stronger," Naruto growled, outraged. "Because for cowards like them, the only strength you can gain is by keeping everyone else around you weak."

"So you've called us," Shikaku said, eying Naruto and watching for a flicker of red, "Presumably you want to strike back."

Naruto gave him a blood-thirsty grin. "Yes. Help me counter-invade the desert?"

* * *

The issue Shikaku had to deal with was supply and movement; it was always the biggest problem in any campaign, and thus Naruto put his best mind on it.

Primarily: getting to Suna before it became too late to matter.

"Two days is too long." Sakura leaned over a hastily spread map on the Hokage's desk, the others' hands holding down its corners. She pointed. "However they're holding out, it has to have been at least eighteen hours since first contact with the enemy, and ninja battles never last long. Two days travel is too much. We can cut it to one day if the reinforcements travel at top speed the whole way, but then they arrive exhausted and unprepared to fight, and no use anyway."

"Options." Shikaku demanded. "How do we travel faster?"

There was no immediate answer. Sasuke nudged Naruto and glared at him. _Surprise crazy shit is your field_ , he signed.

"Trains," Naruto blurted, "Flying, bridges, jumping really high - summons, toads."

Tsunade rubbed her brow and growled, "None of those are remotely applicable on a wide scale."

But Shikaku had his eyes closed, his thoughts turned inward. His lips moved as he muttered something. "Naruto, how many people can the Hiraishin transport?"

"Three. But the jump to Suna is too long, it'd kill anyone but me."

"How much chakra does it take?"

"Not much. A drop in my bucket, half a bucket for anyone else."

"Clones can use it. Clones can take passengers?"

"Yeah, but again, the jump is too long - "

"Not one jump. Smaller ones, however many it takes. Like stops on a train track, or jumping really high."

Naruto's eyes lit up and he started to smile. He countered, "I don't have seals on the road to Suna." Knowing that Shikaku would have an answer for him again.

"Doesn't matter; we'd need to send an advance scout anyway, and they can plant the seals. You go ahead of the rest of us, plant the seals you'll need, and leave enough clones here to jump the rest of the force. We'll prepare here in home territory, which gives us more time we'll need anyway. And since you get to Suna quickly, you can help them hold out."

"He's one boy." Tsunade said quietly.

Jiraiya put a hand on her shoulder; he knew she was thinking of another boy who had gone to war too young. "He's a jinchuuriki," Jiraiya reminded her, almost gently.

"I'm first on the field." She demanded. "There will be casualties."

"Sakura, sort out the ninja, who's going and who's staying. Call the assembly, I'll have a clone give the word. Jiraiya, you're the battlefield commander. Shikaku, you're strategist; doesn't really need saying I guess. Asuma, second in command. Sasuke, Kakashi," Naruto paused, looking at the last two Sharingan owners in Konoha. "When you get there, find the Tsuchikage. I'd like to speak to him, but I'll understand if that's not possible."

Shikaku blew out a heavy breath and started running the figures in his head. How much supply could they put together, and how long did they have to do it?

"How fast can you run to Suna?" he asked, trying to get a rough timeline.

Naruto held up his hands, where the fingers were turned soft and feather-like. "Who ever said anything about running?"

* * *

Naruto went into a steep dive above Suna, rocketing down out of the sky at top speed. With just barely enough room left, his wings flared and brought him wrenching to a halt; in the same motion he switched forms and became human again in front of two terribly startled Sand ninja.

"Your Kazekage is expecting me," he said to them, standing from his dramatic crouch and brushing himself off. He loved that entrance. "Can I go in?"

"H-Hokage?" One of them asked, and Naruto squinted at him.

"Hey! You made chuunin! Congratulations. Look, I'm in a hurry, so if you don't mind...?"

"Uh... okay." The newly-minted chuunin turned and lead the way into the Kama.

"You've got a problem camped out on your doorstep, Temari," Naruto said by way of greeting.

She nearly jumped out of her skin. Gaara smiled at him.

"How did you - actually, never mind. How many more are you bringing?"

"In about an hour, I'll be bringing in fifty of Konoha's finest. They'll be arriving by seal-jumping, which is new and really cool; I had to hold the kunai in my talons as I was flying over here and drop them. Any more word from the enemy?"

Temari shook her head grimly. "They're fortifying, digging in. Stone ninja," she snorted derisively. "Won't go anywhere without sticking their feet in the ground."

"Alright, I can help with scouting a bit." Naruto said slowly. "First though, I'll need someplace wide and open to set up the drop point for the seals. That courtyard in front of the Kama looks big enough; can we keep that clear of traffic while the reinforcements arrive?"

"I think we can work something out."

* * *

The Hiraishin jumps felt a bit like breaking through fourteen walls face-first, each painted with a different scene. It didn't quite hurt in a physical way, but his brain hurt anyway, and the only thing he got from the journey was the impression of trees-trees-trees-grassland-wasteland-savanna-sand-sand-sand.

Shikamaru held very still when they finally landed and assessed his surroundings. He put his back to Chouji and faintly noticed the Naruto clone dispelling itself.

On Chouji's other side, Ino commented, "Damn it's hot."

Shikamaru sighed.

Around them, other Leaf ninja were landing with more or less the same grace. They had been assured that they'd be dropped in a safe zone, but that all depended on the coordination between all of Naruto's many clones.

And he managed them as well as any Aburame handled their hives. The clones landed on their seals and poofed away, leaving disoriented ninja in the middle of a dusty light-brown square.

"C'mon, I'm gonna see if I can find Dad." Shikamaru stuck his hands in his pockets and started for the biggest building around: the Kama.

"Boss-man and the others are at the top," A clone called over, pointing to the top of the building. Shikamaru looked up in time to see a hawk launch itself from the window and start flying over toward the steep walls of the canyon that Sand shinobi lived in. He hoped those weren't terms of surrender already; they'd just gotten here.

He walked into a scene of controlled chaos. Sand ninja argued over each other, and in the commanders' corner there was still a roar of debate. Naruto and the Kazekage stood hunched over a map of the area, Naruto pointing out the positions of the enemy. Once a minute and every minute, a clone appeared next to him, transformed into a hawk, and took off through the window.

Well, that's one way to get updates on the enemy position, Shikamaru mused, and spotted his father arguing with a Sand ninja about water.

"You're sitting on a well!" Shikaku exclaimed, throwing up his hands.

"And the only reason our well has never run out is that we do not tax it too far in any year!" The Sand ninja snapped back.

Shikamaru kind of wanted to let them keep at it, but he had a more pressing question. "Hey, Dad,"

"Yes, dear?" Shikaku asked without turning around.

Shikamaru suppressed a wince and moved on. "So, Stone ninja, right?"

"Yes, that does happen to be who the enemy is. Has got rocks on their headbands? That's how you know it's them."

"No need to get snippy. Anyway, Stone ninja... masters of Earth jutsu." Shikamaru could see that it wasn't registering yet, possibly because Shikaku was over-taxed with other concerns. He was responsible for making sure no one died of dehydration, which was a real challenge in the desert.

"So... We're in a canyon. Surrounded by earth. Stone. Their aquifer is underground, which also happens to be made of earth. What I'm getting at is that maybe we haven't thought this battleground through very well."

"Oh." Shikaku blinked, and let this process fully. "Oh, no."

"We're not retreating from our own damn village!" Temari snapped a few minutes later.

"It does seem a little like admitting defeat before the battle's even started," Jiraiya said.

"We can't fight _Stone ninja_ while surrounded by _exposed stone_." Shikaku insisted.

"We can't fight them _out there_ , either!" Temari said again.

"Why not?" Shikaku demanded. "Water? Drink deep, girl, ninja battles don't last long enough to die of dehydration. And you can't hold out here, either; they're drinking your well dry. You wondered how they could siege a desert city? They just dig down to your own well and use that, and the only reason they don't poison it under your feet is because they need it too."

Sensing weakness, Shikaku continued, "Are you of the Sand, or not? You and your ninja grew up here, you cut your teeth in the sand the way Leaf ninja do on trees. Your people know how to survive in the desert, you know how to fight in it. Use it."

Temari snarled, "You vastly underestimate the power of water, and the need for it. Go stand outside for an hour and tell me you don't want a drink."

Gaara stepped up next to her, startling Temari. Sand swirled idly around his wrist as he held it out to show her. "Shukaku can give us water."

"What," she asked flatly.

"He made this desert. He knows every grain of sand within it, and every drop of water. We can take the well from them, and bring it to us."

Temari closed her eyes and visibly steeled herself. She opened them with a new determination. "Okay. We leave the village in force. They're still camped on our doorstep, so how do you propose we do that?"

Naruto entered the conversation finally. "Well, I've got some ideas about that. But I'm gonna need Gaara, about three of Sakura's gross soldier pills, and a nap afterwards."

* * *

Hidden Stone began their attack at midnight, when the oppressive heat of the day had finally faded and was giving way to the bitter cold of night. The activity of battle, at least, would keep them warm enough.

The ninja from Iwa infiltrated the village swiftly, pouring out of seven holes bored into the cliff-face. These were secured against counter-attack by the first teams to emerge, and would be held until the battle was complete as a way of retreat should it become necessary.

"What of their reinforcements?" Onoki snapped at his advisors. "Where are they?"

Far-sighted spies had noted the arrival of many more ninja in the village than Stone had been expecting, but they were still trapped within a canyon, on the metaphorical and literal low-ground, and thus still subject to Stone's secret weapon.

"No sign yet," Kuri replied, concentrated more on the map of deployment than on her Tsuchikage. "But we haven't announced ourselves yet. So far, the civilians seem to have been evacuated. Reports say the edges of the village are deserted; we haven't penetrated farther yet. Best guess is that Sand has realized their inferiority, and their force is gathered up in one place for a final stand."

Kuri finished, "Our forces are rearranging for a breakthrough maneuver. When we find them, they will fall."

"I'm going in," Onoki declared, standing. This tent was too small. He wanted to feel the air of battle on his face again. "Have we reached the Kama yet?"

Kuri followed him out of the tent and the barricades, down the tunnel into the cliffside around Suna. "Scouts should be breaching that perimeter now... We've found them."

"Inside their Kama?" Onoki asked. Surely they wouldn't hide in an earthen structure. He'd just bring it down around them!

Kuri was shaking her head. "No, gathered in the courtyard right outside it. There are a few fortifications, especially in front of their hospital on the same square. They're going to try to hold in the heart."

Onoki and Kuri rushed, and together they arrived to see the square for themselves. It was large, dominated in the center by a large well leading to Suna's aquifer below and the Kama on one end. There were indeed hundreds of ninja gathered upon it, shifting warily in battle-stances, watching the Stone ninja crawling through their city and gathering at the edge of the buildings.

The 'fortifications' were different from what a regular army would consider them to be. Instead of spiked walls, traps, or some sort of moat, there were chakra-repelling tags on the hospital's walls and white-painted steel plating over the door and windows.

"Commit half the force," Onoki ordered, looking down at the Sand shinobi. "Attack."

Kuri paused in giving the order. "That will make the numbers nearly even."

"I don't like this situation. It doesn't feel right."

Shrugging helplessly, she turned into her radio headset to give the order in code. Iwa ninja in the first half of their army detached themselves from the walls and on signal jumped into the enemy. There would be no formations in a battle like this; ninja fighting-styles didn't lend themselves well to regimented battle.

Things began happening very quickly.

The Sand shinobi in the courtyard burst into smoke and fire.

The top floor of the hospital also dissolved, revealing a mass of ninja and people there, and the sand that had been disguised as their walls was swirling into a huge and arching shape, dark god knew what it would become, Onoki didn't have time to watch it form because there were ninja pouring out of the hospital's windows in droves.

His men and women on the ground, already weakened by that explosion, were going to be crushed under this onslaught of bodies. Blind with anger, he ordered Kuri to send in the rest at the same time as he too jumped into the fray.

The enemy was endless and always smoke, Onoki began to realize over the next few minutes. Some of them exploded; none of them had the same face. A man far too old to be a ninja whipped a kunai at Onoki, and his body released nothing but roiling fire when Onoki punched straight through his face with a rock fist.

This was a distraction, yes, but he couldn't order a retreat and leave their backs open to the endless stream of bodies still pouring out of that hospital. Pouring out in two directions: the clones from the windows, the people - real people, had to be - from the roof onto a massive sand bridge.

He risked stopping for a moment to track his eyes all the way down that massive arc. From the hospital, up a gentle curve, landing on the lip of the cliff around Suna. They were leaving their village.

"You thought to fight a sand demon in the desert?" One of the clones had stopped with him instead of attacking. It was staring at him with its head cocked to the side. The illusion rippled like water and was shed, revealing the face of the Yellow Flash.

Onoki's hand tightened reflexively, but he didn't strike. He need information.

"Hidden Sand has been a thorn in Iwa's side for longer than you've been alive, boy. This is our only chance. That demon is still young and weak, and you'd do best to step aside and hope that Iwa doesn't turn its eye on Konoha next."

"That demon is our brother, Tsuchikage. He may be the weakest, but **we are none of us young**." The jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails snarled.

Onoki popped the clone then, knowing it would take the message back to its master. He looked up at the bridge, where the stream of people was slowing.

His shinobi were fighting well. They had pushed the clones back to the hospital, were invading the corridors and seeking the source.

"What cowards!" he exclaimed to himself, turning away. "Running away from a fight before it's even begun. That kid Kazekage was a bad idea, but it works out well for us."

* * *

**4th of April, 66 f.K.**

The battlegrounds switched, the two ninja forces collided in the early hours of the morning. Naruto, who had previously only learned about ninja wars and how they differed from samurai wars theoretically, found himself thrown into the middle of one.

Kakashi had explained, and even taken them to watch a battle between samurai: there had been pacing, and honor, and a certain humanity to it. There were samurai of different levels of skill, but these levels were flattened in comparison to the vast differences in power that two ninja could achieve. No samurai, and few ninja, could expect to take three kunai to the chest and keep on fighting; but there were some ninja who were able to do so. And that gulf in power left focal points in the ninja forces.

A focal point left unhindered by an enemy of equal skill could and did easily slaughter other ninja. It was how the Yellow Flash ripped through his enemies in the space of seconds: if none powerful enough could catch him, he could rain hell as much as he wanted.

Naruto found himself to be one of these, and Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Ignore the little ninja. Your targets are Ikuro Mountain-Mover, Benihime of Sinking Earth, and the Stone-Skull Shiro. They'll have reinforcements, but you'll have Sakura and Sasuke."

Stone had realized their error: they had occupied the village, but were now sitting on an empty aquifer and trapped within the walls they had tried to trap their enemies in. There were escape bolt-holes cropping up around the diameter of the cliffs, but Gaara was faster at closing them than they could open, and Stone could not afford devote forces to expanding a single tunnel and holding it. Structurally, it would never open wide enough to evacuate the entire force before the Sand and Leaf ninja were upon them and slaughtering them as they emerged. Stone's only escape could come through the front gate.

They weren't letting it come to a war of attrition. Stone had devoted their entire force to a blunt smash through the gate, including their best earth-movers shearing away huge parts of the plateau to widen the opening further.

When the rib-shaking sound of these cliffs collapsing was beginning to fade, Naruto sent up his clone-hawks to scout for his targets. He found Stone-Skull Shiro first, charging with the first wave of Stone ninja into the teeth of the waiting Sand.

The hawk-clone had dropped a kunai as it dispelled. Naruto grabbed on to Sakura and Sasuke, the latter wearing his Fox mask, and flashed away.

To his enemies, it looked like a dozen ninjas air-dropped from nothing into their midst. Naruto didn't use the Hiraishin in the same way his father had; kunai were all well and good, but he didn't have an instinctive idea of where they were at all times like he did with his clones. And he could always make more clones.

The seal tattooed on his arm made its use. He darted around four Sand ninja facing this charge, dealing with any Stone headband that faced him, and made his way flickering to Shiro. Stone-Skull was a massive mountain of a man with snowy white hair and pale pink eyes, and a helmet made of stone.

"Don't forget to conserve your energy," Sakura reminded as she passed him, one hand glowing green and the other striking out with an already bloody kunai. She knelt to heal a Sand ninja's torn tendons, watching the battlefield warily. "There will be more after him, but we have only one of you."

"Got it," Naruto said, cracking his knuckles and grinning. He'd gotten the attention of Stone-Skull, who bellowed a challenge and stomped forward with such force that the ground shook.

Naruto's clones distracted the huge man, infuriating him with nothing but smoke and a bit of fire. The real one leapt onto his back and clung to the helmet, dodging attempts to snatch him off.

"Usually in this sort of situation, they recommend that I get eaten," Naruto commented, finally pushing off of the man's shoulder and swinging around using the ninja wire he'd wrapped around the man's neck. "But you don't strike me as a cannibal, or able to swallow me in one bite, so thanks for that."

"Hah! You think a little wire like this would kill me?" The rope-like muscles in Shiro's neck bunched, and the wire didn't even break skin.

"Nah, but I'm hoping that lightning strike will."

Sasuke drove his Chidori into the man's back, right over his heart, but met with stone-like resistance. He managed to draw blood and gouge flesh away, but he didn't even reach the spine.

"Shit, this guy's built like a bunker," Naruto growled, covering Sasuke's retreat. "Hey, eyes on me, ugly!"

"Let's see how he does against fire," Sasuke muttered, and signaled for Naruto to stand back.

The flamethrower technique engulfed the man, focused mostly on the head. He shouted and tried to evade, but was greatly hindered by the wind blades Naruto kept sending at his knees, which didn't cut deep but certainly proved effective. When Sasuke finally ran out of breath for the jutsu, they paused to take stock of the situation.

"So, it seems like his resistances are skin-only," Naruto offered, leaning in to look at the man's boiled eyes and blackened mouth. His breath had run out before Sasuke's; he'd breathed in the fire. Naruto looked up and found the nearest Sand ninja, who was taking a rest while the fighting in their section had calmed for the moment. "Hold your line here, send up a red flare if you need our help again."

Naruto had just finished up with Benihime of Sinking Earth, a burly but beautiful woman who had been difficult to catch but relatively easy to kill, when a messenger found him.

"Your presence at site two-four is needed. Tsuchikage Onoki has taken the field."

* * *

Onoki had cleared the field of both Konoha and Suna shinobi by summoning four massive sandstone golems. These advanced at a lumbering pace, massive limbs swinging heavily; each was six times as tall as a man and stood on two thick legs.

Several of the allied ninja were trying to subdue one of the golems with wire and rope caught around its head and arms, pulling with all their might. On the barren landscape, there was nothing to use as a lever for the force so it wasn't working well.

"That one, Sasuke, they've slowed it," Naruto pointed. "I'm gonna see if I can get enough water from the ground for a jutsu; you try fire on it."

Sasuke nodded and went forward, hand already at his mouth for another flamethrower technique. He darted at the thing's feet, breathed a stream of flames, and kept it up as he nimbly circled its restrained movements to hit him. Fire spilled over the golem, heated its sandstone body past the point it could bear, and hardened it into immobile quartzite. The golem was finally frozen mid-swing and mid-step.

Meanwhile, Naruto had targeted another one himself and sent clones to distract the other two. He formed the hand-seals and reached deep within the earth, where Gaara had gathered them a new aquifer of water. At the edge of his range, his chakra dipped into the water and brought it roaring up into the air as a furious dragon. This beast confronted the golem and swept its watered body through and around the golem over and over, until the construct was soaked through and steaming, and dissolved into a still-animate mound of large sand granules. This shifted threateningly for a moment and fell still.

"You got one more of those in you?" Sasuke asked, appearing at his side. He nodded at one of the remaining golems, which was still swinging away at Naruto's clones. "I can take care of this one."

Naruto grinned at him. "Bet I can get mine faster!"

Sasuke grunted, but accepted when he didn't wait for a countdown to take off after his target.

"Cheater!" Naruto called, and began signing for the water-dragon technique again. He kept a wary eye out for the Tsuchikage, who was supposed to be here; unless he had just come to summon his golems and left.

The last golem fell puddled to the earth, and Tsuchikage Onoki announced himself.

A pillar rose on their battlefield, wide enough for just one man to stand comfortably on, and one man was standing on top of it. Onoki looked down at them from the same height his constructs had been, his arms crossed defiantly.

"Young people like you have no respect for battle." He said, looking down his nose at Naruto and Sasuke still on the ground. "You treat this like a game? This is war, boys, and you will lose!"

Red began to tint Naruto's eyes; this was the fight he'd been waiting for, and there was no more need to hold back. "I told you before, stupid old geezer," he growled, and the whisker-marks on his cheeks darkened heavily. "Age has got nothing to do with it!"

Naruto jumped and began to run up Onoki's pillar, but was thrown off when it collapsed _upward_ and left Onoki floating in the air. The pillar had broken into chunks the size of fists, which hesitated in the air and then began to fall to the earth as though finally remembering the pull of gravity.

Naruto dodged on principle, and then more actively as the first rock hit with far more force than it should have - like it was as dense as lead instead of just stone.

Onoki was drifting towards the earth as well, but he had already followed up with another earth golem summon just as massive as the others. He landed on this one's shoulder and began another set of hand-signs.

Sasuke and Naruto split up to dodge the golem's double-handed strike down at them. This one moved much faster, perhaps because Onoki seemed to be controlling it directly.

_If his hands start glowing, cut them off_ , Naruto thought to himself, remembering Kakashi's advice on the Tsuchikage. He had some sort of special technique that could kill instantly, but it took preparation time.

The golem was a problem, Naruto decided, and he trusted Sasuke to keep an eye on Onoki's hands. He jumped back and began to draw heavily on the fox's chakra. The massive avatar took shape around him, raising his body up into its head. Fully formed, he looked down at the golem that only came up to the fox's shoulder and opened his maw to roar at it.

He saw the primal fear in Onoki's wide eyes, and he liked it.

The golem raised its arms to block the fox's jaws from snapping shut on its head, and continued to defend itself and its master. Each time its stone met the miasma of demonic chakra, it hissed and burned into quartzite slag. Naruto swept at the stocky legs with one paw but didn't manage to unbalance it enough for his following snap to land.

Onoki's hands began to glow white.

Sasuke appeared over the golem's other shoulder, coming up so fast that Onoki hardly had time to react. The Tsuchikage and the golem reached for him at the same time, but Sasuke's eyes were red as blood and he dodged both easily. He looped ninja wire around one of the old man's wrists and jumped off the golem.

Onoki was yanked forward for a moment, but planted his feet and recovered. With herculean effort, he grabbed the trailing wire from his wrist and pulled back, stopping Sasuke just short of the ground. Sasuke went right back up, where the golem's fist was coming from the other direction and would hit with bone-shattering force.

Onoki's focus on Sasuke had cost him, however. The fox avatar's teeth finally closed on the golem, searing the entire shoulder joint stiff, and ripped the construct in half. Onoki went tilting one way, Sasuke went the other, and Naruto began to gather chakra in the fox's mouth.

Onoki landed in a roll and got right on his feet again, whirling to face them. His hands were beginning to glow again; he wasn't giving up on that technique. Sasuke judged distances and kept back, out of the way of Naruto's Tailed Beast Ball when he released it well before Onoki finished with his.

The ball struck, blowing a massive crater in the ground. The earth didn't stop shaking when it was over; Sasuke and Naruto both looked down, and just barely dodged it when the ground opened up beneath them into a huge crevasse. This yawned wide for a moment before it snapped shut hungrily, leaving a jagged crack behind.

Onoki jumped out of the crater, accompanied by four rock clones. All four of them targeted Sasuke, and Naruto couldn't help; Onoki was headed straight for him, fury written on his weathered features.

Naruto tried to strike at the Tsuchikage with his avatar's chakra claws, but the old man was too fast and this body too big. Finally he had to cede the advantages of his fox form for the fox's chakra cloak, which was just as powerful but not nearly as impressive. Onoki's fists were encased in rock, and though he didn't move fast compared to Sasuke, his strikes had far more power behind them, as Naruto found when one landed on his head and sent him straight to the ground.

Sasuke hadn't been able to handle all four clones at once. The first three dealt with, he found that the last one had been making hand-seals and that he was now trapped somewhere absolutely dark and insufferably hot. Either Onoki had erected a prison of stone walls around him, or he had dropped Sasuke into a live burial. Either way, Sasuke could get out by going up, and hopefully get out soon; Naruto would surely need saving right about now.

Ears ringing, head-spinning, Naruto had the vague thought that he was glad Sakura had had the forethought to teach him how to function with most of a concussion still forming. He rolled away from Onoki's follow-up, and stayed crouched on all fours instead of trying to stand when his eyes couldn't even focus properly.

Two of Onoki charged at him again, wound up for another skull-breaking punch. Naruto squinted, realized he was going to need a few more seconds to recover, and turned tail and ran away. 

"Where do you think you're going, boy?" Onoki roared, giving chase. "Get back here and face me, or are you a scared child?!"

Naruto's vision finally focused. He turned around, wind gathering in the hand that was still hidden from Onoki. "What the fuck is with you and my age?" he demanded, holding out his free hand to pause the fight for a moment. "You got something against people who were born before dirt existed? We can't all be as old and outdated as you, grandpa."

"Outdated!" Onoki dropped the rock gauntlets from his hands, and they began to glow again. "You children are always arrogant about the past! As though your history does not affect you. I will teach you, child, that I am that history and I can end you. The past that you ignore is what brings me here to this point, ready to annihilate you! All the things I have seen in this world - nothing you have known can compare."

"What do you think you've seen that I don't know?" Naruto asked, voice quiet at first but growing louder. "You think you know more about hate? I'm a jinchuuriki. Love? I never knew my parents, but I've got my team and my village. Betrayal? My village and my grandfather were taken by a traitor, and I had to live in fear every damn day for three fucking years just to make it home. You only have to feel it once to know what grief is, what sadness is, what pain is. The only thing you have over me, old man, is a hundred years of _not being able to change!_ You've got a hundred years of nothing but war in your heart and your heavy history dragging you down."

Naruto's jutsu was finished, and Onoki's glow was starting to coalesce into a discernible cube of bright power, but Naruto wasn't done talking.

He continued, eyes glittering with conviction, "Your history didn't bring you here. _You did that_. You brought your shinobi here because you can't take your eyes off your beloved past and see that the world is different - Sand is different, Leaf is different, Stone can be too! But you hold them back. You are killing your own people with your stagnant ways. Because of you, they all will die in this desert. There will be no more Hidden Stone."

"You're wrong," Onoki snarled, and pushed out his Dust Release.

Naruto leaped forward, leading with the hand holding the Demonic Rasengan.

That unstoppable force met Onoki's immovable object. Naruto, having never looked away from the Tsuchikage at all, watched shock crawl across his features as if in slow motion, and felt his own mouth twisting into a toothy grin.

The Rasengan broke through. The world went white with a sound like glass shattering.

* * *

Vision returned slowly. Naruto blinked, and the shadowy lines he could see shifted slightly. He caught Sasuke's scent nearby, but didn't hear any harsh breathing or other signs of battle; they were safe for now, for some small value of safe.

The world faded in more. Sasuke was crouched next to him, looking warily around. His head tilted toward Naruto slightly and he muttered, "Oh, good, you're alive."

"And you're still a dick," Naruto groaned. He sat up and looked around. "Sakura?"

Sakura was kneeling by Onoki's unconscious body, one hand glowing green. "I've got him held stasis; there's a nice hole in his chest here. You want him dead or alive?"

Naruto pushed to his feet, groaning loudly the whole time. His entire body ached, and he was tapped out of chakra. Kurama still had some left to give him, but Naruto hoped that it wouldn't be necessary. "Alive, for now. We can kill him some more later if he makes us."

Sasuke turned a dubious eye on him.

Naruto said softly, "I don't want to demolish all of Hidden Stone. They might deserve it, they might have even asked for it.... But we all know that the actions of a Kage are not necessarily the will of all the ninja in the village. I don't want to punish all of them just for being loyal to their Tsuchikage."

"So kill him and let them change." Sasuke suggested, turning away with a snort. He went over to where Sakura had finished healing Onoki, and began trussing the old man up with so many wires and tags there would be no hope of escape.

"If I kill their Tsuchikage," Naruto reached up to fix his headband, which had gone askew during the fight. "I'll just be continuing the cycle. Death for death is all we've ever tried to do to solve problems. If I kill him, like ninja have been killing forever, nothing will change. It's time someone tried showing mercy."

"And when it comes back to bite us?" Sasuke asked, hoisting the Tsuchikage's body onto his shoulder.

"Then he dies."

* * *

Temari and the others were not terribly happy to see Onoki still alive. Onoki, who woke up as they ducked into the command tent and dropped him on the ground, was not very pleased with the arrangement either.

"You can sit there, shut up, and listen to us, or I can finish you off and go out there and kill every Stone shinobi I find." Naruto growled, leaning in to put his face mere inches from Onoki's. "Now you gonna be a leader to your people and try to save them, or you gonna keep on shouting at me?"

Onoki regarded him coldly, and didn't say another word.

"I told you it would come to this." Naruto reminded him.

Something finally got through to the old Tsuchikage. He sat quiet and defeated, as Naruto argued with the incensed Temari for leniency and mercy. She fought him for every step, but in the back of both of their minds was one trump card for Naruto: Gaara. Mercy had brought her brother back to her.

"You agree to surrender?" Temari demanded, whirling on Onoki.

"My shinobi will not be harmed?" Hesitating only a moment, Temari nodded. "Then I do."

She held a radio headset up to his mouth and ear. "Call off your troops, and we'll take them prisoner. They'll be given water and food enough to survive while we work out terms."

Onoki dictated the channel to the genin aide holding the radio controls, and said into it, "Command code alpha stone four-four blue. Surrender. I repeat, surrender. Over."

The line was silent for a moment, and then opened again with a crackle of static. A woman's voice asked, "Sir?"

"You heard me, Kuri. Any Stone ninja who lays down his weapons will not be harmed, over."

"Uh, soft copy, sir. Over."

Onoki motioned with his chin that Temari should keep her finger on the open line button. "We made a mistake, Kuri. I'm going to do my best to fix it. Tell the others to come quietly, over."

"And you trust the Sand ninja to hold to their word? We've killed and injured a lot of them. We took their village. Over."

Onoki looked from Temari's grudging gaze to Naruto's hopeful one. Part of him wanted to label the boy a weak-willed idealist, but Onoki knew that there could be nothing weak about that will. And the other part of him remembered that he had once had ideals, too, before the things in his heavy past had ground them to diamond dust. He began to realize that Naruto was right: he had let history cloud his mind, and the world had moved on around him.

The Sand and the Leaf didn't want to be his enemies, not even when their victory was assured.

"I do trust them, Kuri," Onoki replied after a long pause. "Lay down your arms, let there be truce."

* * *

**18th of April, 66 f.K.**

Naruto paused in organizing the firework tower, fully integrating his just-popped clone's memories. The newest supply orders were finished and processed, and the budget was as good as could be expected after an invasion.

"How's things at the office?" Kakashi asked, flicking to a new page in his book idly.

The Hokage slotted another screamer near the top. This would be the best display the village had ever seen for Foundation Day.

"We got the latest reports from Suna earlier," Naruto replied, "And it looks good. The Stone ninja put back their defenses and cleared out the tunnels. The actual reconstruction is taking longer, but there's no really good jutsu for being that precise with moving stone, so it's going by hand."

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully. "And Onoki is keeping his word on providing the financial backing and manpower for the recovery?"

"Well, Temari is fostering his successor with her brother," Naruto grinned, remembering when Kurotsuchi, who went by Kuri only to her grandfather, had met Gaara. The girl's initial disdain had slid right off of Gaara's clueless apathy towards her. "So even though Stone doesn't have much money to spare for Sand, he's definitely sending a lot of his ninja. Temari doesn't like it."

"But she knows that he wouldn't dare to try anything again." Kakashi surmised easily. His eye turned up in a smile. "You're really very good at this Hokage thing, Naruto."

"Yeah," Naruto said thoughtfully, stepping back to look at his completed tower. He looked over at Kakashi and gave him a small but honest smile. "Thanks."

Kakashi understood that Naruto didn't only mean the compliment. He acknowledged it with a nod, and then quickly sidestepped to regain his usual emotionless shinobi facade. "So, how big of a boom is this gonna make?"

Naruto put his hands on his hips. "Well, I really hope that the First Hokage's face is still on the mountain after this, let's say that."

The tower had been set up at the foot of the mountain, in the middle of the training grounds that filled the area after the village buildings stopped. The mountains would frame and provide a great backdrop for the fireworks.

"See, I'm gonna light it here at the bottom and it'll go up floor by floor and at the top - the big boom."

Somehow, Kakashi had not seen Naruto add the top piece; his student had sneaked it by him expertly. His eye went wide. "Who gave you that?"

Naruto gained a shifty look. "Does it matter? It'll be fine, sensei, promise! It's only a little experimental."

"Just..." Kakashi sighed, "Please remember that the village is still under construction."

"Yeah, sure!"

* * *

Naruto knelt eagerly at the base of his tower, holding a pair of matches in one hand and unraveling the wire of the fuse with the other. His thumb rested on the match-head, ready to flick it alight.

Movement over his left shoulder, the sudden feeling of a body behind him. Sasuke's head leaned just into vision as he spat a tiny fireball at the fuse and lit it before Naruto could.

Naruto didn't move a muscle, only turned his head to stare in wordless outrage at Sasuke's satisfied smirk. He squawked loudly when Sakura dragged them both back by their collars; while they had been getting ready to brawl, the fuse had run down perilously close to the firework tower.

"Thank you, Sakura," Kakashi said, waiting at the edge of the training ground. "As always, pulling your teammates out of the literal fire."

Whatever Sakura would have said was lost in the first round of screaming fireworks that erupted into the sky. The next level were colorful sparks mixed with huge expanding orbs, and the one after that screamers again - there were screamers almost every other level, because Naruto would never change so much that he wouldn't enjoy loud things.

Near the top there came more rocket-types, which exploded four different times on the way up and created a lot of smoke in the air. At the crown was another collection of sparklers in red, but the burst pattern spread them wider than before; it seemed as though the whole night sky was on fire.

The sky fell silent and dark. Naruto tilted his head up, eager to see his final work go off. He reached out blindly and shoved at Sasuke. "You're gonna like this one, bastard."

The final rocket shot into the sky with a solitary scream, and vanished up into the stars for so long that it seemed it might not have exploded at all.

Then a fiery dragon came to life above, lighting up the world with bright blue flames. It circled back on itself once, twice, and opened its maw and dove noiselessly for the ground. It pulled up above the treeline and breathed fire, its body fading out from tail to head until there was just the spark of its eyes left. These too faded into just a glint, and dropped to the ground; it was the firework casing.

"Who gave you that one?" Sakura asked, leaning into Naruto.

"Jiraiya helped me with it," Naruto replied. "But the original design was my dad's. He never got the time to finish it. So, what d'ya think? Was it good?"

"Yeah, I liked it," Sakura said.

"It was a good finish," Kakashi said.

"Hm." Sasuke said.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, huh?"

"Fire is supposed to be red, idiot. How'd you manage to screw up something so basic?"

Naruto's mouth opened fish-like for a moment. "Are you - you have to be kidding me! That was on purpose! Not everyone likes only two colors, asshole, I made it blue because _I like blue_."

"Red would have been better," Sasuke shrugged, as though he wasn't deliberately provoking Naruto.

Naruto growled, and launched himself at Sasuke. There was just no pleasing some people.


	5. Unification Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Much is found; some is lost. Things come together, and fall apart, and come back together.

**30th of April, 66 f.K.**

 

Naruto put down Jiraiya's report and asked his office at large, "Sasuke back from his mission yet?"

The clone on intake-paperwork answered, "He checked in with the border patrol earlier today, should be back in the village soon."

"What do we got, boss?" asked the clone on budget duty.

Naruto set the report down on his crowded desk gently, staring at the words. They were in Jiraiya's inane code, but the meaning was clear.

"Jiraiya's found Itachi."

* * *

Sasuke fairly vibrated with suppressed energy. _Clones spotted them heading this way_ , Naruto repeated in code-signs.

Sasuke frowned harshly at him, momentarily distracted, and signed back, _I know. Be quiet._

Concealment was something that all three of them had mastered and remastered over and over again; more than anything else, Kakashi had taught them how to hide. Not even an Akatsuki pair would notice their ambush on the road.

It was technically a bad place for an ambush. On the edge of Fire Country but still underneath the massive trees, there was straight open road ahead and behind, and no natural formations to create a barrier on either side. When they struck, they would have to move fast to surround their enemy.

The black and red cloaks came into view around the last curve in the road. Sasuke stilled entirely.

Naruto made his name-sign in front of Sasuke's face, glancing at the two Akatsuki to make sure they wouldn't see the movement. Sasuke didn't blink or respond. He was seeing his brother's face for the first time in eight years.

"It's too easy," Sasuke muttered distantly. Naruto looked over, alarmed. "This was too easy. It's not him."

With that, Sasuke dropped his cover and landed in the middle of the road in front of Itachi and his partner.

Hoshigaki eyed him critically, turned to Itachi, and said, "This seems like a personal problem," and wandered back down the road at an unhurried pace.

Itachi didn't react to being abandoned. He had barely blinked when Sasuke revealed himself. "Hello, little brother."

Naruto watched several emotions flicker faintly through Sasuke. He dropped his own cover as a young sapling and stepped forward to put a hand on Sasuke's arm.

Sasuke didn't even shrug him off, just stood there still. Staring. And then finally he asked, "Why did you do it?"

Itachi tilted his head, curious. "For power, of course."

"You know we found Danzo's records," Naruto broke in, stepping forward with a dangerous and almost red aura around him. "We all know that's a lie."

Itachi shook his head. "I know you wouldn't understand my reasons, or you wouldn't still be this weak, Sasuke. You haven't even tried to attack me, which means you know you will lose."

"Or he wants answers before he takes your head off!" Naruto shot back. Sasuke still hadn't said another word.

"Does he speak for you now?" Itachi asked, still staring at Sasuke. He had yet to even look at Naruto, as if he knew that would aggravate him more than anything else.

"Why did you do it?" Sasuke asked again.

Itachi's lip twitched just slightly. His control slipped, or he had done it on purpose; either way he showed anger. He finally looked at Naruto. "It's nice of you to come to us. We weren't planning on taking you for some time yet, but if the opportunity presents itself so well - "

Itachi struck in a blur, his eyes flicked red instantly. Naruto put up his arms to defend, but found that Sasuke had already unfrozen and intercepted the attack. They both went tumbling to the side of the road with the momentum, and Itachi looked mildly surprised as his clone puffed into a flock of crows.

"I knew it was too easy," Sasuke murmured, as his eyes narrowed. "But that was pointless. Why bother with the clone at all? Unless he wants to gage my strength, he wants to keep track of me...."

Naruto's mind leaped ahead through a dozen lightning-flashes of information coming together. At the same time, he and Sasuke said, "He's still near here."

Venomous, Sasuke snarled, "This time he won't be getting away."

* * *

Somewhere else, Itachi blinked as his clone was dispersed. It had expected the Nine-tails' container to defend himself, had only intended to pop itself against his defenses. But it had garnered him an important piece of information, and one that brought a small but genuine smile to Itachi's face.

Sasuke hadn't waited for Itachi's clone to be distracted and involved with Naruto. He had tried to protect instead, sacrificing a critical advantage.

"What the fuck's the creepy grin for?" Kisame demanded, looking up from where he was taking care of his sword. The little hunter's shack was lit only by the daylight filtering through an open window.

"My brother is coming along nicely," Itachi responded. And not aloud, not where anyone could hear because the Itachi they knew wouldn't ever say it, he thought, _Sasuke found my village_.

* * *

**1st of May, 66 f.K.**

The sun was almost to its zenith only a day later. In an idyllic little clearing filled with light and long bright green grass, a young fox crept through the grass. Its delicate nose lowered to the ground, the fox sniffed around curiously. It investigated a small burrow for a moment, and then moved on to the walls of the shabby little cabin, where it poked around the bottom looking for more burrows.

Finding nothing worth eating, the fox startled at a nearby bird-call and went bounding away into the forest. Sufficiently out of sight, it popped into smoke.

Elsewhere, Naruto signed to his teammates that he had something.

"Found 'em," he said grimly, watching Sasuke.

"Let's go then." Sasuke said, watching him back. Despite his words, he made no move to leave. He knew that Naruto wanted to say something.

"Last time you pulled that 'easy' shit," Naruto began. "And you were right, but you might not have been. You're real close to this one, Sasuke, I get that. But do you think you can do it?"

"I have to."

"That's not what he asked," Sakura said quietly. "Can you do it? I don't think you can."

Sasuke turned a murderous glare on her. All three of them had gotten the lecture from Kakashi that the Uchiha clan had some genetic issue with mental instability, but this was the first time that Naruto and Sakura both saw it for what it was.

"We aren't standing in your way," she continued, not letting him see how he had disturbed her. "We want to help you, Sasuke. Whatever you need. If you freeze again - "

"I won't." Sasuke insisted.

"If you freeze again," Sakura repeated, undaunted, "We'll snap you out of it. You want to kill him; we'll help you."

"I don't need your help," Sasuke said through gritted teeth. "I can do it alone."

"So maybe you can do it alone! That's great, whatever, you bastard. We don't care. We wanna help you anyway. We wanna make sure you get what you need, and don't die or get crippled while you do it!" Naruto burst in.

"I won't freeze, I won't need your help. I'm strong enough to do this alone. I have to be."

"Sasuke," Sakura said, filling that single word with all of her desperate need to see him through this. She fell silent; everything she thought of to say to him, he had to know already.

"Please," Naruto said quietly. "You didn't care about coming back to Konoha, but you wouldn't have left us to fight Danzo without you. Sakura could have stayed in the village without us, but she chose to be a team. You can do it alone, Sasuke, I believe that. But you don't have to. Please, Sasuke. I don't want you to ever have to face something alone again."

Naruto held out his hand.

Sasuke looked at it, and remembered Naruto at twelve years old in the Academy sitting at the back of the classroom, where no one talked to him but he talked anyway. And Sakura at twelve years old, trying to give him food and invite him to her house, and how no one else ever asked her over to theirs. He had chosen to isolate himself, had feared ever becoming close to anyone again, and he knew now that he had been wrong to do it. How close he had come to a line that he wouldn't be able to cross back over. It had been years - a lifetime - since they had been those people. But those children were still there in their pasts.

He wouldn't let them face anything alone; he could accept the same from them.

"Don't get killed," he said to both of them, and reached out and took Naruto's hand.

An electric current passed between them, crawling across all of Sasuke's skin and setting it abuzz, hypersensitive to nothing but the air. The sharp inhale he took tasted cold and clear, like mountain air, or the first breath after nearly drowning. He realized that he could feel Naruto across from him - not in the battle-sense way that he had developed for all of his teammates, but as an extension of himself.

There was a shadow of someone behind Naruto. He had slanted, narrow eyes and short hair spiked up, held in place by wrapped bandages. Sasuke felt a strum of pain in his chest when he saw the man, a sharp sense of longing.

Naruto's eyes reflected back to him a similar figure behind Sasuke, of a darker man with long hair and Sharingan eyes, but it was Sasuke at the same time: a warped mirror showing himself in new proportions.

Sasuke opened his mouth to ask what was happening, but what came out was, "I'm sorry."

And Naruto said, "I never blamed you," with just as much confusion on his face.

Sasuke wrenched their grip apart with more effort than it should have taken, and the shadow and strange electricity disappeared. He shook his hand, staring at Naruto warily.

"Weird shit always happens around you. What was that?"

Naruto's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment. "Oh, of course you think it's all my fault. You had a person-thing behind you, too, y'know!"

"Okay, that was pretty odd even for Naruto, Sasuke," Sakura added. "But do we have time to deal with it now? It's already been a while since Naruto's clone spotted Itachi."

"Can't fight if me'n Sasuke get all screwed-up when we touch," Naruto reminded, and held out his hand again. This time his little finger stuck out half-curled.

Sasuke grimaced at it for show before he wrapped his own finger around Naruto's. He braced, but there was no more chilled breath or strange apparitions.

"We'll figure it out later," Naruto decided, nodding. "Let's go."

Sakura took his other hand, and they vanished.

* * *

Kakashi had taught them that there was no honor to be found in a ninja battle. If you could kill all of the enemy before they even knew you were there, you did so and were glad of the opportunity. Shinobi didn't participate in pitched battle across a battleground if they could help it. They did not announce their presence and wait for the enemy to reveal themselves.

But Sasuke had some things to work out with his brother, so he sent a fiery dragon crashing through the little hunter's shack and stood back to wait for Itachi to emerge.

He did so smoothly, walking out of the smoldering remains as though he had all the time in the world to do so. The sight of him sent a chill down Sasuke's spine, forcefully pushing his mind back eight years into the past. The scent of the fire was replaced by the heavy iron-scent of blood.

Sasuke shook his head, activating his Sharingan. The subtle genjutsu faded.

Kisame clapped a hand to Itachi's shoulder and peeled away, hefting his sword toward Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke made a small sign behind his back - _get him_.

He felt Naruto move in agreement. Sasuke took a deep breath.

"Why did you do it?" he snarled, letting all of that suppressed fury come back to him fully. It had been so long, so much effort spent to hide this from his team; useless when they knew it already. The world slowed down around him.

"I'll tell you when you're older," Itachi said, calling back to all the times he'd said that when Sasuke asked him about missions and ninja training.

Sasuke roared, and charged his brother with a fully-formed Chidori.

Itachi feinted left and dodged right, which Sasuke saw just a little too late with his Sharingan. The Mangekyou's three-pointed star spun rapidly in his brother's eyes, nearly hypnotizing. Itachi threw two handfuls of black fire at Sasuke as he rolled to the side.

Using the still-chirping Chidori, Sasuke swept half the fire to the side. It sizzled against his lightning, but gave little more than first-degree burns. He let the technique fade and instead spat his own fireballs at Itachi, a massive scatter that would be impossible to dodge.

Itachi consumed those flames with his own and barreled through the black fire and smoke, straight into Sasuke. They both landed hard, but Sasuke managed to get a hand underneath himself and lurch to throw Itachi off of him before any of the three kunai he had in his hands could make contact.

"Is this the power you killed our clan for?" Sasuke asked, spitting blood from where he'd bitten his cheek. "It took me three years to catch up with you; you've been slacking off."

"That's Kakashi's technique you favor so much, little brother. Are you another copy-cat?"

Sasuke sneered and readied another jutsu. Until the last hand-sign it looked to Itachi like another fire technique, so he readied his black fire again and found that it wasn't much defense against the sudden collapse of the air pressure around him.

"That's one of Naruto's," Sasuke told him, although Itachi wouldn't be able to hear for several more minutes when his ear drums re-pressurized.

Itachi reeled visibly, striking out wildly with his fire while he regained his balance. Sasuke, unable to find an opening, was forced to wait it out. The idyllic clearing, already scorched and torn up, was growing uncomfortably warm in the summer sun and the heat of the flames.

Finally the fire stopped, and Sasuke made two clones. They spread out, wary of the smoke and Itachi's indistinct figure within.

"That was impressive, little brother," Itachi commented. His voice sounded like it was coming from him, but Sasuke wasn't convinced. "A wind technique is rather outside your nature, and that one was powerful."

Sasuke didn't like that his brother was complimenting him like they were having a spar, but he had realized that Naruto's wind jutsu shouldn't have been that easy or powerful. As a test, he sent a series of wind blades at the figure in the smoke.

The smoke billowed and dissipated, revealing Itachi dodging easily between his blades until the last one caught an ankle. Itachi burst into crows, which flew at Sasuke's own clones.

The wind blades had been easier than usual, too. Sasuke decided to worry about it later.

Premonition and instinct had him rolling forward in the next moment, narrowly avoiding Itachi's kunai to the back of his head. Sasuke came out of his roll straight into a jump, and made it into the tree branches. There he climbed and made four more clones, which split off into other directions.

Itachi made his own copies, and all of them gave chase. Sasuke leaped through the branches, dodging senbon as he went, until he found a good spot and swung down below a branch. Using his momentum through the change of direction, he launched himself at the Itachi behind him, who met him steel-to-steel as Sasuke finally drew his sword.

Itachi had only his kunai, but even with those he managed to parry Sasuke's attacks. He was driven back by the effort, forced to jump back onto the branches they had just passed.

Back to where Sasuke had been dropping exploding tags.

The first one activated and nearly blew off Itachi's foot. It bled - this one wasn't a clone - and Itachi's eyes were wide with pain and surprise.

Sasuke grinned nastily at him.

"Why did you do it?" he asked.

Itachi set him on fire.

While Sasuke tried desperately to put his clothing out, eventually having to strip off his shirt entirely, Itachi fled. A quick water jutsu barely sizzled the fire, and it took much longer than it should have to extinguish. Sasuke growled and searched the trees for Itachi again, dispelling his clones as he did so to get their chakra back.

One of them had seen Itachi heading back to the little clearing. Sasuke gave chase.

Itachi had bound his ankle immobile with bandages when he arrived, and seemed to be waiting. "You've become strong," he said, "But not strong enough."

An ethereal armor began to form around Itachi. Red and glowing, it formed upon his arms and his chest first and kept spreading.

Sasuke reacted with fireball after fireball, spitting them rapidly at Itachi's growing form. He didn't know how, but his brother was growing some sort of avatar like Naruto could do with the Nine-tails' chakra, and that could only mean bad things.

And Sasuke was nearing the end of his reserves.

The air grew to boiling hot, despite the sun being blocked out by darkening clouds. Sasuke stopped, panting, when Itachi's new armor looked fully formed.

It was massive but not as large as Naruto's full avatar form. Itachi was suspended in its chest, looking down at him. "This is the power of the Mangekyou," Itachi called. "You will never obtain it."

"Why did you do it?" Sasuke shouted back.

"I did it for this power!"

Sasuke summoned the last of his own power, all of his chakra and his fury, and the ghosts of his family that he always carried with him. An angry god reached down from the sky.

The lightning of Kirin struck Itachi's avatar as it reached for Sasuke. The red armor was obliterated in an instant.

Sasuke fell gasping to the ground. After a few long moments, half-expecting Itachi to come strolling over and slit his throat while he could do nothing to stop it, he managed to regain his feet and stumble to where his brother had fallen.

He found a kunai buried point-down in the earth on his way. He fell heavily to his knees next to a prone Itachi, kunai held limply at his side, and asked his brother one last time, "Why did you kill them?"

Itachi's eyes slid to him, a fathomless depth of black. "I wanted peace for you and my village, and they only wanted destruction."

"Why didn't you kill me too?"

Itachi closed his dark eyes. "I could never kill you, little brother. You're the one good thing our family ever made."

The kunai fell from Sasuke's numb grip. He bent over and pressed his forehead to his brother's, squeezing his eyes shut, as the tears that had been gathering there began to fall.

"Sasuke," Itachi said, and Sasuke opened his eyes right into Itachi's Mangekyou. "There is more you need to know."

* * *

Naruto found him minutes later, clothing rumpled and torn from his fight with Kisame but in one piece. Sasuke was sitting cross-legged with his brother's head in his lap.

"He's dead," Sasuke told him, voice a little distant.

Naruto paused a few strides away from them and asked carefully, "Is that a good thing?"

"I didn't kill him; he was already dying, and he knew it. He wanted to talk to me."

Sakura arrived then, still healing a small cut on her upper arm which had, a few minutes ago, been nearly severed. She cast an appraising glance over Sasuke and went to heal his burns.

"What did he want to say to you?" Naruto asked, coming closer. He sat next to Sasuke.

"He told me about Akatsuki, what they want to do. About the night of the massacre. About the Mangekyou."

"Seems like you guys spent a lot of time just talking, which makes me wonder how a Kirin came into your conversation. Yeah, I saw that."

Sasuke shot him a dry look. "He took us to a place where time passes differently. It's a type of genjutsu."

"Sure, whatever," Naruto dismissed, and looked around Sasuke over to Sakura. "He gonna live, doc?"

"Aside from the chakra exhaustion, he's basically in fighting shape," Sakura replied, lifting her green-glowing hands.

Sasuke looked down at his brother suddenly. "He wanted me to take his eyes."

Sakura paused. She hedged, "I can do that."

"I don't want them," Sasuke answered her unasked question, his tone angry.

"You should do it anyway," Sakura said softly, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. "He must have known that you would need the Mangekyou, and that you would never do what you need to in order to get it."

"I don't want them," Sasuke said again, quieter, but he closed his eyes in defeat even as he refused.

"He was your brother," Naruto said, "You should have something of his."

"Sakura," Sasuke said, and she nodded.

* * *

Always hiding behind trees and corners, hidden in shadows. The man in the orange mask watched three teammates change their own destinies as doubt gnawed at his stomach and made him sick.

Itachi had allowed himself to die, and taken his partner with him; he had not belonged to Akatsuki after all. Itachi had been the true epitome of a ninja: hidden until the final, vital moment, when he showed the loyalty written in his bone marrow where the light of day never touched. Now the masked man's enemies had the power of a Mangekyou.

A second one, he remembered, blinking an eye that was not his own.

_Something has been broken today_ , he thought as he turned away from this new Team Seven. Kakashi's team, and Jiraiya's team, all the way back to Madara Uchiha and the two Senju brothers; all had fallen apart. But these three came together time and again, against the madness in the Uchiha blood and the generations of feud stretched between two clans.

_Sasuke is out of our grasp_ , he thought. _And perhaps the Nine-Tails is as well. We will need the power of the other eight first to overcome that._

But the doubt was still there, eating at the edges of his thoughts, always ready to pounce on a moment of indecision. It spoke with a sharp, childish voice and could not be muted.

_They got it right! Kakashi, you utter bastard, you finally got it right._

* * *

The road back home would be quickly covered when they decided to travel like ninja again, but for now the only one who felt remotely fresh was Sakura. Naruto strolled along the dirt road with his hands behind his head, looking up at the darkening dusk sky and breathing fresh Fire Country air. Sasuke kept pace to his left, flicking his new eyes around with interest at every small movement in the woods, although he didn't waste the chakra to keep the Mangekyou active. Sakura studied a scroll of medical jutsu to Naruto's right, confirming to herself that she'd done Sasuke's eyes perfectly.

Naruto made a small noise and fell to his knees like they'd been cut out from under him. Sasuke went on guard, red eyes watching the trees intently, while Sakura crouched next to him with a healing technique already in her hands.

Back in Konoha, a clone had closed its eyes and sent a prayer to the dark god as it dispelled itself with force, ensuring that its memories came back strongly to the real Naruto.

_Fukasaku sitting on his desk, wounded and bleeding from a desperate message on his back._

"No," Naruto refused, squeezing his eyes shut. His conscious mind rebelled against the memory, against knowing it.

_The toad's mouth opened and formed words that Naruto wouldn't hear over the blood rushing in his ears._

"No, no, no," he moaned, punching his fists to his temples, bent in half with the force of it. A strangled scream erupted from his throat.

_The ANBU in his office were silent in the wake of the toad's report, like forest birds falling quiet as a predator passes beneath._

"Please," Naruto begged, as though that would make a difference.

_"He's dead," Fukasaku said._

Naruto roared, the red miasma erupting from his skin in an instant. That malevolent pressure crashed down suffocating on every living thing around him, and still it wasn't enough. There was too much.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, fear in her voice, but Naruto wasn't really there.

Naruto snarled at the bars of the massive cage, beyond both word and thought. Kurama met his challenging gaze.

**This is why I destroy mountains,** Kurama said. **This is the anger that makes deserts.**

Naruto still could not find the words to express himself, not past the desolation of the storm in his head, but he didn't need words to talk to Kurama.

So he showed the great fox - the invasion of Konoha, seen through thousands of eyes, the exhilaration of a good fight tinted darkly by worry for his people. Stone invading Suna for no reason other than the kind of power that came from making everyone else too weak to fight. The heat of the desert sun on his back as Naruto drove a Rasengan through Onoki's final technique, knowing that Onoki had to die or surrender, or so many more would die.

Kumo sitting silent and waiting, like a spider on the edge of its web, for one of its enemies to be weak enough to attack. The Bloody Mist, the only time that Kakashi had dared to travel through it, had reeked of blood from the ground up. The ninja there killed their own as often as any enemies did. And other places, other people - all the evils that Naruto had seen in the world, all of it for greed and power and most of all _fear_.

The world had gotten a little darker today, as one of its brightest lights was extinguished. And Naruto, abruptly, found that he couldn't handle it. It was too much.

**What are you going to do about it?**

" _What can I do?_ " Naruto howled.

**You can make them stop.**

"How? How could I possibly make them stop? It's not possible - it's what we are, Kurama, you were right all along. We're just a pack of killers."

**You haven't even tried, but you've already taken the first step.**

Kurama showed him a memory of two hands joined. After a moment's disorientation, Naruto recognized himself and Sasuke.

**Every time they meet, one brother has to kill the other,** Kurama intoned. **Until now. Until today. Naruto, you broke the thousand-year curse and brought the two lines of my father's blood together again.**

The fox showed him a ninja map, with the borders of ninja territories instead of the countries'. One by one, the borders around Konoha began to disappear.

**Leaf ninja do not kill Leaf nina; Sand does not go to war with Sand. Two of the same tribe are allies, not enemies.**

"I can't - you want me to unite the hidden villages? No one can do that."

**Something has to change.** The last border faded away, and with it every village symbol but for one in the center of the map: the kanji that meant both _shinobi_ and _endure_. **And you are the only thing that you can control.**

* * *

 

> _The stream is shrunk — the pool is dry,_  
>  _And we be comrades, thou and I;_  
>  _With fevered jowl and dusty flank_  
>  _Each jostling each along the bank;_  
>  _And by one drouthy fear made still,_  
>  _Forgoing thought of quest or kill._  
>  _Now ‘neath his dam the fawn may see,_  
>  _The lean Pack-wolf as cowed as he,_  
>  _And the tall buck, unflinching, note_  
>  _The fangs that tore his father’s throat._  
>  _The pools are shrunk — the streams are dry,_  
>  _And we be playmates, thou and I,_  
>  _Till yonder cloud — Good Hunting! — loose_  
>  _The rain that breaks our Water Truce._

_How Fear Came, Rudyard Kipling_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus ends The Water Truce. A few ending notes, especially with regards to the title. This thing was under a working title until about midway through chapter four, when I was re-reading some old stuff and realized how fitting The Water Truce is. It's been a favorite for a long time, but it is perfect for this story because it's about false truces and false pretenses. Everything is fine - your enemy is not your enemy - until one thing about the environment changes and gives you an advantage again. All of the ninja world is under a water truce, just waiting for the rain to break.
> 
> Faked you out with that Suna invasion though, right? I bet you thought this was about real water instead of metaphorical!
> 
> But anyway, this was fun/agonizing to write in turns, especially the fight scenes. Which I never feel I get right, but whatever I'm not looking at them any more.
> 
> There could be a third installment if it keeps bothering me, but as it is I really just wanted to get through to Indra and Asura's reconciliation. Because what happened in canon, while in keeping with Therapy no Jutsu where Naruto punches people until they see things his way, was not very realistic. In reality, a Sasuke that far gone probably couldn't be saved. So I never let my Sasuke get that far gone.
> 
> On the other hand, he's still a crazy bastard barely held in check by his team, so.
> 
> Also the quote at the beginning is also about peace that doesn't last, rooted in our own history. Give it a google for some more insight on how much of a nerd I can be when planting peripheral easter eggs for my readers.


End file.
